Another Setback
by Dr Namgge
Summary: Another defeat has left Eggman reeling. Now it's time to pick up the pieces and rebuild, for the glory of his empire. There's just one problem, how do you rebuild when everyone knows you're a wanted man?
1. Escape

Explosions tore through the underground facility, spreading outward from the centre, causing massive structural damage throughout the area. Aftershocks shook the very core of the building, and fire licked down various corridors, torching all in its path, only barely opposed by the few robots that were in any sort of position to try and tackle the blaze.

The source of the damage was a failed safety system of the third reactor of the building, but the cause was not a mechanical failure. Instead, the source could be traced back to a small blue hedgehog, who had already managed to escape the base outrunning the chain of explosions that had followed, and staying clear of the blast wave that knocked over countless droids along the way. This escape was assisted further by a bi-plane piloted by another animal, an even smaller fox.

But there was one other escapee, an overweight scientist, a Dr. Robotnik, more commonly referred to as Eggman. He had seen first hand exactly how the reactor had been destroyed, and it was in fact his very vehicle colliding with one of the emergency safety devices of the reactor. The vehicle itself was a four story tall mechanic version of himself, which he had been piloting. It was sufficiently armed to take on a small army, yet in battle with the hedgehog it had, like many of the doctors other vehicles, proved to be unsuccessful.

Robotnik had learnt over the years to make a quick exit to any of his vehicles, and was actually piloting the robot via another smaller metallic grey craft. The craft had rudimentary flight ability, but its key design feature was the ease in which it could be used to connect to other devices to control them. This device had come about due to many battles against the hedgehog, where a quick exit had always been required. Never more than now; with his robot being the very cause of the explosions that were now destroying his facility, had the scientist been relieved he took it as a design feature.

Flying through the flaming ruins, trying to dodge the debris, Robotnik made for his escape. The hedgehog had gotten out easily, but the doctor was hampered more by the damage which he was unsuccessful in outrunning, but also by the larger size of both himself, and the small flying vehicle he was using to make his escape. Within the craft he had three computers, one relaying sensor information to structural integrity updating a real time map, the second showing a large countdown clock to the point when the reactor would go critical, and the third simply showing the same as it always did, targeting for the vehicle's scant few last ditch weapons.

It took some considerable piloting skills from Robotnik, dodging over the twisted remains of his once logically laid out laboratories. At the time, such a large lab was ideal for the multitude of experiments he was always running, but now, when making an exit was tantamount to his survival, the sheer size was more of a hindrance. His computer guided escape route kept flickering, and repeatedly the doctor had to double back upon himself to make a safe escape. Nervous sweat ran down Robotnik's forehead, as the clock clicked ever downwards, and he still didn't have any assurance that he could make it out alive, let alone that he would.

He entered into another of the building twisty corridors. The place was deliberately maze like, it allowed him to prepare should a certain superfast hedgehog appear on the perimeter, the extra few seconds it took said hedgehog to navigate the maze would be the difference to being prepared, and being caught of guard. While this had yet to make a successful difference, it still made sense in the genius mind of Robotnik, after all, why would he anticipate he'd fail yet again?

Robotnik hastily scrambled through the corridors. He had managed to get ahead of the fires for now, but the surrounding areas where still littered with robot parts, broken computers, and other electrical equipment scratched up and shredded to pieces. Robotnik didn't have time to analyse, he didn't need to; it was his arch nemesis' handiwork, now all that was left of an entire squadron of his army. The overweight scientist had no time to dwell on it; he kept going, passing more of the same, and concluded he was probably now going the same way the hedgehog had probably come in.

A few hundred feet on, Robotnik saw the unmistakable light of day. It glowed into his robot factory from above, through a narrow hole. Without even giving it a second thought, the human fired the last two missiles from his craft, and blew the tiny hole open wider to allow for his own escape. Rubble fell directly bellow, a small piece of damage, practically insignificant to what had already happened here today, and Robotnik pulled back on the joystick, easing his craft through the hole and into the world above.

Smoke filled the air, covering what would've been a cloudless sunny day. The wind gently breezed over Robonik's face, making his ginger moustache twitch. Robotnik turned his craft around and flew further away from what was his once proud base. He hovered slowly, and silently over the ocean, until he deemed himself far enough away from the explosions to be able to safely watch.

Robotnik looked at the site of his most recent battle, now standing as a former shell of itself. Engulfed in flames, and covered in a blackened charring, the base no longer looked to be a pristine source of equipment and new technology for the would-be-emperor, but now a ruined waste. Later Robotnik would return to the site, to salvage anything useful, and stop his enemies getting hands on any of his equipment, but for now he could just sit and watch as explosions continued to ring out.

The giant Eggman face, the one that adorned the centremost largest building o the facility stared back at him. Small explosions rung out through the building; slowly morphing the once proud, yet egotistical face of arrogance into a ghostly tormented image. Where it used to convey pride and stern menace, it now looked disheartened it's moustache dropped downwards as fire weakened the supports that held it internally, the smile slipped into a frown, the explosions taking out the key parts of the structure, until the face was one of despair and suffering, not too dissimilar to the one Robotnik was currently wearing.

One final, much larger explosion rung through the building as the reactor finally gave up, taking the other three with it. The sheer fore took the entire building Robotnik had been looking at with it, leaving just smoking ruins as the debris was thrust outwards arcing down to the ground, colliding with other parts of the building, and causing even more rampant destruction.

The scientist sighed wearily. It was over. Once again, his plan had failed.


	2. Recover

It was now three in the morning. Robotnik had retreated back to one of his hidden bases. He had a few across the world that the dreaded hedgehog hadn't yet found, and until he succeeded in his dream of taking over the world he would keep building them, they served a key strategic retreat point for these times; the times when his plans had quite literally blown up in his face.

This one was located inside one of the mountains that made up the Hill Top Zone. An area that was full of lava was not the perfect hiding place, it was hot, and the overweight scientist was consistently sweaty, even in spite of all the air conditioning he had installed, but because of this, the area was seldom explored, and most people who ended up there by chance, would be too inclined to get out of the heat to go exploring every mountain.

From here, Robotnik was able to mobilise a recovery force. A few dozen robots had left for his old base, and only now, several hours later, the scientist was receiving news from the base. It had been a long night for him, the adrenaline from his earlier battle, and his anger had kept him awake; it always did. Eager to hear the results of what could be salvaged, the ginger moustached human listened in.

"Preliminary results of survey," the robot spoke, its voice crackle through signal interference, "percentage of salvageable scientific experiments: eight percent."

Robotnik growled angrily, "That hedgehog will pay."

"Percentage of salvageable electrical equipment: twenty two percent"

Robotnik sighed; he had accepted that to be bad considering that's where the last fight broke out.

"Percentage of salvageable weapons stock: nineteen percent"

"That's outrageous!" Robotnik scowled, "Did you look everywhere? There's no way four fifths of the weapons cache was destroyed, check tower two again."

"Affirmative," the robot conceded, as it continued to list more and more statistics to its master. After each one, Robotnik would be angry or exasperated, even though he had seen the extent of the destruction. There was no way around it though, even if the site was still structurally sound, it would now be too easy to have the blue hedgehog re-make his way there. The only choice would be to build a new site.

Yes, he had this site now, and several others, but it was much too small, literally just a research room, a monitoring station where he could conduct surveillance, a basic robot factory, and living quarters. No, what he needed was a much larger facility, one where he could conduct experiments, design and manufacture large scale equipment; assemble massive vehicles, not to mention a surrounding area large enough to make sure that the hedgehog couldn't just walk straight in the front door.

Furthermore, Robotnik needed a secluded place, somewhere where he could hide his most lethal of equipment, and get everything built until at last he was ready to start his plan. Of course, first the scientist needed the plan, then the location to carry it out from. But it was late, and the small hours of the morning aren't the best time to come up with the best of plans.

Morning came all too early for the doctor, his groggy head still weary from the late night and lack of sleep he had received. In the night his mind had been filled with images of his last battle. The sound of the screeching metal as his battle suit buckled against the spines of his nemesis, the sight of the blur of motion the blue rodent became, that gleeful maniacal laugh the hedgehog brought with him, mocking the doctor's failings.

All of it left Robotnik disheartened, but he would pull himself out of his slump, it was simply not in Robotnik to give up. Fleeing occurred regularly, but always to fight again, never fleeing a battle until it had become completely unwinnable. He would win, if it took him one more attempt or a hundred more.

The scientist lurched over a computer screen and began looking through various charts and figures. He had lost much of his experiments in the explosion, but some of the data he had saved to an external server site was proving interesting, if not necessarily useful right now. Amongst this there were some good results for anti-gravity experiments, something he had spent a lot of time investigating, especially after his first trip into space had left him feeling very ill.

But there were other things to consider. The salvage efforts would be working around the clock, determined to bring back anything of use, and fully destroy anything that was no longer useful. While Robotnik was not a fan of recycling, mostly due to a notion some would deem misguided, that the planet would be better covered in his machinery, he knew that for now some materials and equipment was hard to come by, and he needed to get as much of it as possible.

Further to this, he still needed a plan. His last few plans had been an attempt to conquer by sheer force and military cunning, but now it was looking like the best plan may be a bit less open and a bit more deceitful. The obese scientist had never had any trouble tricking the hedgehog, nor half the world for that matter, and he would surely be able to do it again. It was just a question of how, and why.

Robotnik looked to a globe on his desk. He had made it himself; based on satellite photos and geographical surveys he had conducted over the years. While there had been efforts by others before, Robotnik considered none of them as good as his own efforts, and wrote off the time spent on this endeavour as research for ideal locations. Many of these he had used, but there was a considerable number yet to be facilitated by him.

This was going to change, as Robotnik opened up a virtual version of his globe on the computer. Staring intently, the doctor began to rotate the world around, analysing locations, before finding a good sized island, about four hundred miles north of his present location. It wouldn't be too hard to get things there, but he needed to do more research and to do that, he needed to go there and take a look around.


	3. Reconnaissance

Two hours later, Robotnik had assembled a small scouting party. Just six robots was all that he needed; each of them equipped with a variety of cameras, sensors, and enough recording equipment to capture every detail of Northside Island. They left in a small non-descript aircraft, no larger than a private jet. It was a civilian vehicle, no weapons, nothing to protect it from any form of attack. But Robotnik knew he needn't worry about that, as it was the sort of vehicle nobody would expect anything sinister of.

Robotnik had done his research. In his efforts mapping he was already aware of what the island had to offer in terms of mountains and cities, but now, if he intended to use this island for a new base he needed to do some research, and this required going there. Hence the slow speed aircraft. It was unobtrusive, and not suspicious, so nobody would suspect it was him.

Inside the human scientist and five of the robots sat in the back. The sixth robot acted as a pilot, doing all the hard work of flying the craft. If he was honest, Robotnik knew the robot was a better pilot than he was, but he had no plans on ever telling the machine this, and the robot would have no use for this information even if it was ever told.

The entire trip was silent save for the roar of the jet engine. None of the robots needed to discuss anything with each other, or with there boss. Meanwhile the one human was too busy tinkering with his Egg-O-Matic, customising it ready for surveying, and doing last minute checks on all his equipment. This was a new Egg-O-Matic, same design and model as the one that had enabled his escape just a day ago, but with none of the damage the other model had endured. That one was being repaired back at his base by a team of specialist robots. These were some of his longest serving machines, primarily because they had never seen direct conflict.

"Beginning landing preparations," came an emotionless announcement over the intercom, "Al passengers should fasten there seatbelts."

In unison the five robots all complied. All of them sat down in perfect harmony, grabbing there seatbelts in unison, before the resounding clunk of five seatbelts being clicked together simultaneously. They were ready for landing within seconds of the announcement.

In contrast, the human took considerably longer. It took him a while longer than the machines to even get to his seat, and then he had to visibly fight with the seatbelt to get it over his rotund body. Even after completion, the scientist fidgeted like mad, unable to get comfy in spite of his chair being undoubtedly the comfiest on the plane.

The moment he got settled, the plane began its rapid decent. The landing was a bumpy one an open field being the best suited place for landing, in terms of practicality only. When it came to comfort, a gently sloped, uneven field led to a considerably bumpy landing, one which Robotnik resented every second of.

Screeching to a halt, the plane stopped. A second announcement incoming the passengers of a successful landing was followed by the echoed sound of five seatbelts being removed, and the fumbling of a sixth. Each of the robots got up, and headed towards the door. Robotnik meanwhile climbed inside his Egg-O-Matic via a convenient set of steps which jutted out of the amour on the left hand side. As he turned the key in the ignition, a second, much wider door opened on the plane. Steering carefully, the doctor piloted the craft out of the vehicle, towards an assembled group of robots, ready for orders.

"I need soil samples from every point on this island. You two," he bellowed, pointing at the leftmost pair of robots, "will be responsible. Survey it once within a three hundred metre patch. Ignore densely populated areas. Meanwhile you two," he continued motioning to the next pair, "need to find any underground caves on this island. I want a complete map of any natural caves to a depth of two miles. Finally, I need to know where there are any large clusters of non-man made metals. You two," he pointed towards the last pair "will be responsible. I will be remaining here, researching more about the islands culture. You have twelve hours to complete your missions."

All six robots saluted, before flying off. Robotnik watched them all scatter, before making a quick patrol of the immediate area. Despite knowing that it was highly unlikely his adversary would be here, the scientist felt he could never be too careful. After all, with an enemy who could run at the speed of sound, you could never be too sure you weren't somewhere that he couldn't get at quickly.

Eyeing the landscape more thoroughly, Robotnik saw the unhampered sight of nature left to its own devices. Surrounded him was a large field of wild grass, its blades uneven in length, and scattered randomly in pattern. There was no recognised order, only chaos in the layout. Everything about the field was an insult to good science; it was completely random, inefficient, and entirely at the whim of any and all variables that should attempt to change it. The aircraft he had just landed in had provided one such variable, tearing away the soil, and exposing the dirt underneath.

Even more frustrating though was the light scattering of rings on the field. All throughout his travels across and around the world Robotnik had encountered these gold rings, and they infuriated him. Despite there abundance, the overweight human had never been able to study there properties due to there intangibility. From his observations he had learned a few things about them though. Firstly, rings appeared and disappeared entirely at random all over the planet as well as in orbit over the planet. The only way to guarantee an area free of them was to build an area and completely seal it off with an electromagnetic force field to prevent there appearance.

Secondly, though Robotnik had no idea why, only organic life forms could pick them up, and even then, only by running through them. Most animals however seemed to be averse to touching the rings and only a small percentage would willingly walk though a ring. Most who had had said it felt unnatural to make contact with them, and they didn't like the feeling they got with them. Robotnik had also observed that if an animal had been encased in a badnik they could no longer hold rings.

Robotnik assumed this was because of how rings interacted with computers. Left for long enough, any computer near to a ring would corrupt and become unstable to touch. It would become completely unusable, and emit a faint glow. Robotnik had observed the ability of such corrupted computers to grant special powers, but had as of yet been able to replicate this for himself. He had however learnt that artificial intelligence was unhindered, and had been able to implement a small scale shield that protected his Egg-O-Matic from the influence of the rings, but the shield became too unstable when extracted to a larger area.

The influence of these rings was the one thing Robotnik had been constantly researching. To date he had not established how they worked, only that they were one of his enemies main sources of defence. While Robotnik could also utilise there influence to protect his self, it did not protect his equipment, and thus he would rather see them removed altogether, even if using them had saved his life from some of the more powerful attacks he had been on the receiving end of.

Nevertheless, Robotnik had seen enough of the land to know he had seen enough. The human scientist returned inside his craft, there was still much work to be done, and he needed to continue his research into the legends and folklore of the island. If his plan was to work, he needed to know as much about the history of the land as he did the geography and science. Knowing Northside Island inside out would benefit his plans immensely.


	4. Observation

To aide in his investigations, Robotnik needed to get into the heavily populated areas. But he couldn't just stroll in, for some reason many people wanted to have him arrested or worse for his past endeavours. Sure, the first couple of times, he was able to just set-up where he wanted, as nobody recognised him, and then later, he resorted to abandoned islands, and reclusive areas. But whenever possible, it was easier to make use of existing infrastructure, it was not only simpler to modify what was already there, but crucially it was always quicker, and speed was a key factor for the scientist.

But since he was so well known now, Robotnik had to rely on an alternate identity. It wasn't the best of ideas, but he was able to camouflage himself effectively. Some make-up, a few accessories, and a bit of acting, and the overweight scientist became a tall and overweight cat, or a large breed of dog. Whatever he needed to be, Robotnik would become it. This was the role he had to do, most of his robots lacked the levels of AI required to deal with anything that might happen on one of these trips.

Today, Robotnik was Roger the Walrus. To complete the disguise, the human had modified his Egg-O-Matic, turning it into a four by four, and spent several minutes getting into character. Robotnik was a good actor, but he merely considered this skill just another part required for his plan, and had no interest in theatrical productions, though he would naturally embrace the theatrics when it was called for.

Robotnik set off north east, to the largest city on the island. Following the scant few country roads, he found himself uncomfortable dealing with sitting on his fake tail, but decided it wasn't worth rearranging. He had set off now, and had a timetable to stick to. Robotnik had arranged for a meeting already, he was going to visit the town's mayor to discuss the creation of a giant water park on the outskirts of the town. He was sure he could convince the mayor to give him permission, but just to be sure he had a backup plan in his suitcase as well.

Furthermore to his plan, Robotnik was going to visit the main museum. He doubted there was anything of worth there, but he hoped to learn of any local myths and legends. They always managed to provide good cover and explanations for mysterious activities, and the disappearances that always occurred with the scientist's efforts. Anything he could exploit, Robotnik would, for he had no idea how long he would have to establish his base. Sometimes he'd barely finish before it got trashed, and on a couple of occasions, he wasn't ready when the place was destroyed.

Robotnik didn't like it, but he'd conceded that it was almost inevitable that he would lose the base eventually. It wasn't a question of "if?" but "when?" Not that Robotnik would give up; he would carry on, building another base, ready to try again. After all, though the destruction of a base seemed inevitable, surely his adversary's chances were also drawing closer and closer to zero.

Besides, even if it did get destroyed, Robotnik would still gain more forces. Robotnik could gain a few thousand robots per base, and not all of them got destroyed. Eventually the scientist would have so many he could outnumber the entire population, and just start an all out war. But for now, Robotnik needed to play a defensive game. He had to build forts, where he could put all his production efforts, and try to defend against any attack he was subjected to.

Robotnik arrived outside the mayor's office with ten minutes to spare. He was glad to be in a city, all the countryside was doing his head in. Robotnik walked out of his new car, clutching his briefcase tightly in his sweaty palm. His make-up and costume was hot, and Robotnik knew he would be a while yet.

As he walked into the building he smiled politely at the receptionist, calmly announcing his arrival while trying to fight his frustrations at the young rabbits overwhelming cheeriness. It was sickeningly saccharine; despite the rabbits efforts to appear happy, Robotnik could tell it was all for show. He didn't want to speculate why, frankly he didn't care. All he cared about for now was getting this meeting over as quickly as possible.

"The Mayor will see you now," the rabbit beamed cheerfully. Robotnik eagerly got up and walked into the office, glad to finally get to business.

"Roger," The mayor, a small weasel smirked with a confident and toothy grin. He was sat behind his desk, and beckoned the costume adorned human to the front of it.

"You must be Mayor Wally," Robotnik falsely grinned back, as he walked towards the desk. Something told the human that, as long as the creature didn't see through his disguise, he would be able to get exactly what he wanted.

"That's right," the mayor replied, "So what's so important that you had to come directly to my office rather than through one of my officials?"

"Well," Robotnik grinned, sincerely this time, "I've come to declare my plans to open a water park on the outskirts of your city."

"Uh-huh," the weasel replied, his hands clutched on his desk, "Go on…"

Robotnik began to declare his alibi. He was going to construct a large water park, charging people for admission, food and whatnot. To try and convince the mayor, he declared that he would put back some of the money he made into the community. It was a sound argument, but there was one flaw, the location he'd picked was a protected area.

"I can't have you building there," the Mayor replied, "but if you could find somewhere else, I believe we may have a deal."

"I was afraid you'd say that," Robotnik replied. He didn't have time to scout out a new site, especially not one that was so central to the island. The further inland he was, the better, and aside from the mountain in the very centre, he couldn't be further inland if he tried.

"I hope this," Robotnik said, opening up his suitcase, "Will help you reconsider my proposal." Robotnik spun the briefcase around. It was stuffed full of wads of money, at least a quarter million, all earned by Robotnik selling some of his inventions legitimately through legal means. A few simple devices that had no potential as weapons, and would ultimately have been implemented worldwide when he came to power anyway. It made sense to sell them, as they funded his projects.

The mayor's eyes lit up at the sight of the money. Robotnik eyed carefully. If he'd got it wrong, the mayor would refuse the bribe, and ruin all the planning to this point by refusing to allow Robotnik to do anything, and potentially getting him arrested for bribery. Thankfully for the scientist, Wally was the sort of politician who would take a bribe. Robotnik smiled happily, realising he had yet to meet a politician who wouldn't take a bribe in all this time.

Robotnik bid a hasty exit, confident he would receive planning permission, and hence explicit permission to start manufacturing on an island of inhabitants who would eventually call him ruler. The scientist wasn't even worried about the money. He would get that back and maybe more, when he captured the mayor and turned him into a badnik.


	5. Reccomendations

The museum beckoned to Robotnik. It was a large and old building, but one that had been well maintained. It looked almost out of place next to the more modern buildings surrounding it, and certainly, as an architect, Robotnik didn't like it. It was too old fashioned, and too primitive. In his mind, the human had decided that when he came to power, the museum would go.

Inside however was a different story. The museum had clearly been modernised, and had lots of flashy video displays, and many different kinds of interactive exhibits designed to both educate, and entertain the younger visitors. The scientist immediately dismissed these, and began looking around the more classical historic exhibits.

Waddling along in his dog costume, now very sweaty, and continuing his act, Robotnik passed into the ancient history wing of the museum. The sight of some large dinosaur bones greeted him. He gave them little thought, but briefly tried to picture some of them as potential Badnik designs.

He continued into another, more heavily guarded room. There was an armed guard stood next to a display. Inside it was a large green gem, about the size of a fist. It glistened slightly in the light. The sign next to it called it one of the rarest treasures of the lost Babylonian empire. Robotnik leaned in closer, keeping one eye on the guard. The Rottweiler didn't flinch from his post, dismissing Robotnik as harmless.

"Well, now that's a pretty gem," cried out an elusive female voice, "Probably worth a fortune too."

Robotnik glanced at the source, and was quickly struck by a stark revelation. It was a white bat, dressed in a skimpy cat suit, with a pink heart on the front. Her name was Rouge, and Robotnik had dealings with her before. Mentally, the human cursed, if the bat saw through the disguise, it would be all over the news, his deals would come crashing down, and it would be his downfall.

Rouge sauntered over closer. It was obvious to Robotnik, though not to the guard stood watch, that Rouge was here scouting out the security detail, and not the gems themselves. Chances are she had also been planning at the same time. Robotnik chose this time to walk away. He imagined tomorrow there would be headlines regarding the gems 'mysterious disappearance' and that Rouge would've left the island before sunrise.

Robotnik headed for the nearest exit from the room, finding himself in amongst some old paintings. Most of them had no significance to the human, featuring historic figures he'd never heard over, and scenery that he didn't particularly care to look at. There were a couple of paintings that took his eye, one that seemed to depict the floating island, and another featuring an old temple. Looking at the details, he found that it was listed as being somewhere on this island, hidden somewhere on the main mountain.

"It's just a temple, trust me there's nowt valuable there," Rouge's voice echoed as she spoke to the human.

Robotnik said nothing at first, but it was obvious that Rouge had noticed something odd about the disguised human. Never one to give up without a fight, Robotnik relented. "What do you want?" he said, his voice deeper than his usual speech.

"Not here," Rouge said, "follow me." The bat lead Robotnik into a more secluded part of the museum, an empty wing that was due for renovation.

They stood amongst some empty shelves, and information placards, Robotnik nervous, but trying his best not to show it. The bat leaned closer and whispered "I know all about what's going on,"

"What do you mean?" the doctor feigned.

"I know about the mayor's office."

"And how do you know about that?" Robotnik asked, calling Rouge's bluff.

"I'm a bat. We have good ears to hear things, and wings to get us to where we can see things. I know all about the bribe you gave to Wally," she answered, before pulling out a camera, "and I have the photos too."

Robotnik thought about smashing the camera there and then, but he knew Rouge a little too well. She probably had backups already, and that would just raise more suspicion. "Let me guess," Robotnik responded, "You want a cut too?"

"Naturally," the bat smirked, before handing him a piece of paper, "You can meet me here tomorrow night. I'm sure that you can have another suitcase ready then with the same amount."

"Don't tell me, you're too busy to do it tonight."

Rouge didn't follow his comment. "Either we meet tomorrow night, or you can explain to your bosses why the deal for the water park fell through."

With that, Rouge left the room. Robotnik looked at the paper. The meeting point was out in the countryside, an ideal place the scientist began to think. A plan began to form in his mind. What was an unfortunate circumstance could very easily turn to his favour. It wasn't originally on the cards, but this was as good a time as any to settle a personal score.

But right now, work was still needed, Robotnik had to research. It was the reason he had come here. Despite Rouge's protests opposite, Robotnik wanted to find out more about this temple. As luck would have it, after asking one of the curators, he found there was an exhibit on it. Robotnik headed there, still on high alert for any more unnecessary interruptions.

The exhibit was a pitifully small display, a few relics, a handful of photographs, and a very old print of some characters Robotnik couldn't quite tell the species of. To many this would've been a waste of time, but the scientist had noticed something in amongst all the relics. It was a small carving of what looked like a creature holding a ring. His curiosity triggered, the human had to go and take a closer look. As Robotnik's eyes gazed over it, he noticed the small notice next to it.

"An ancient carving from the shrine of the Ring Worshippers," Robotnik read quietly to himself, "They believed that the rings were blessings from there gods, and built a temple at what they believed to be the source of all rings."

A smile crept across Robotnik's face. This might not be the legend he could use to provide enough cover for any mishaps that may occur, but he'd seen enough legends come true to know that there may be some truth to this. Robotnik was determined now; he would have to investigate this temple.

Robotnik returned to his airship, it was serving as his base while he was on Northside Island. While he had come across an unexpected hindrance in the form of Rouge, he knew how to deal with her, and had no concerns about his deals with Mayor Wally. But for now he had to wait. He still had data to analyse, and he had to set off to do his research.

His first command was to send an initial scouting party to both the rendezvous point, and to the temple. He would get the upper hand on Rouge, lay a trap for her there, and be back in time to learn if there might be any truth in the legends.

But for now Robotnik was tired and hungry. He had missed lunch, and was very eager for something to eat. His robots may have kept working, but the human needed the break. Tonight would be a chance for him to unwind, he would forget all about his plans, and instead focus on his passion, designing and building new ways to defeat the hedgehog.


	6. Meeting

Robotnik didn't give himself much time to sleep, not now; there was too much work to be done. He had too much to focus on, and only a finite number of hours to get it done in. His immediate thought however went on breakfast. In spite of the moniker "Dr Eggman", a moniker he actively embraced at times, he was never bothered by the irony of eating eggs himself. To him there was no better way to start the morning than with an egg based dish, or three as the mood struck him that particular morning.

During breakfast the doctor did little by his own standards. Sure, he would have some work going on, there was always work going on, but it would never be anything that demanded his utmost concentration. Today was no different, just a quick review of some data his robots had collected. None of it stood out as especially noteworthy, the soil was just standard soil, but with a large quantity of clay in the south east corner. Though he didn't realise it at the time, the south east was practically deserted, and this would serve as a good resource to his construction.

It was later, after he had done most of his normal morning routine that the human began to really get in to his work. He had to plan dealing with Rouge, an unexpected turn of events to his scheme, but one that, due to her nature as an agent of G.U.N. required his immediate attention. If he didn't turn up, she would spill the beans, and he wouldn't be able to use Northside Island at all, same if she realised who Roger really was. Furthermore, due to her status as a G.U.N. agent she couldn't just casually disappear like many others had, not yet anyway.

Robotnik has also considered paying her off, but what if she had still blabbed, or wanted more and more? Blackmailers always blackmailed for more, Robotnik knew this from personal experience, and hence he had to deal with her appropriately. That's when it hit him; the best idea was to turn the tables on her. He wouldn't be able to convince her to leave him alone, but he could find some dirt on her surely.

It took Robotnik three hours to create the perfect tracking device, tiny enough to be barely noticeable, with enough sensors to tell when she was near precious materials such as diamonds or rubies, and a simple voice recorder for any sort of incriminating talk. It was also designed not to emit any sounds a bat could hear. Having got to know Rouge after the Ark incident, Robotnik could be sure she would sooner or later she would try something, and when she did, he would know about it.

But Robotnik was too busy himself to monitor Rouge all the time so he left that duties to two robots. He meanwhile had six hours remaining before he had to get ready to meet her. He still had time to carry on with his work. He couldn't yet start building, not until Mayor Wally had approved his planning permission. It was annoying for Robotnik to have to wait, but this was the nature of politics, the bureaucracy was almost intended to deliberately slow down progress.

For now Robotnik was finishing the extensive touches on his map. He knew he would exploit every available inch of the island, but his intent was to first fortify it, and this required a different sort of planning, an outwards approach, just in case the hedgehog somehow got wind of his plans early. Mapping was tedious work, but machines Robotnik knew that no computer he could built could match his genius with regards to designing things. Such was his levels of brilliance that only he himself was worthy of designing anything within the Eggman Empire.

Evening came slowly, and if anything Robotnik was relieved to stop mapping. He had done barely two thirds of it when he stopped to get ready. Once again the overweight scientist squeezed himself into the costume, and went through the unbearable process of dealing with the makeup required to turn him into an overweight human with a large moustache to a large built cat with orange fur. It may not have been the perfect disguise, but when you're not looking for someone in a disguise, you tend not to notice it when it's staring you in the face.

The meeting point was deserted when Robotnik got there. He had managed to get another briefcase, filled again with yet another quarter million, again a tiny sum that the costumed human was sure he would get back. The only other thing he had with him was his converted Egg-O-Matic, and clutched within the palm of his hand the device he intended to fit on Rouge. This was the part that filled Robotnik with the most dread, as slipping it on would be tricky. Get it wrong, and it would be a wasted effort, and she would have even more reason to be suspicious.

Rouge turned up late. Nearly half an hour late, in fact. Robotnik had all but given up on her appearance when she revealed herself.

"Did you bring the money," she asked, not even bothering to look around. Robotnik took this to mean she had already scouted out the area, most likely from above.

Robotnik simply nodded in reply to Rouge, and motion to the briefcase in his right hand.

"Hand it over then," she demanded, "unless you want your amusement park to be closed before it even opens," the bat smirked.

"Before I do," Robotnik began to ask, "You promise not to say anything about either deal when I do this?"

"Listen sweetie," Rouge coyly replied, not meaning the sweetie part in the slightest, "I've got what I want, for now anyway. Maybe I'll take another cut later on," she added, "Now hand the money to me, and hope you don't see me again."

"Fine," Robotnik muttered in reply. He lifted the briefcase up to hand it to her.

"Open it."

"Why?"

"So I can see you're not pulling a fast one."

Robotnik feigned a disgusted look. Deep down he knew she was playing a careful game, and had a very just reason to be cautious, especially at this stage, but he didn't need her to know he was on to her. He took the briefcase in both hands, his left hand on the lid, still concealing the device he was going to plant on Rouge via simple misdirection, and opened it.

Rouge's face lit up at the sight of the money. For a moment her senses lost her. Robotnik knew this was the best chance, and took his hand off of the top of the briefcase and planted it, and the little device, on her back. "I think this should prove I'm not trying to pull anything," he said trying to sound sincere. He had no reason to say anything, but the speech helped to cover his gesture.

Rouge took it upon herself to grab the suitcase still open. She shut it immediately, only acutely aware that she had been touched. Truth be told, she didn't like that, but she let it slide for the money she just got for it. She then insisted Robotnik left first, so he couldn't follow her.

Robotnik drove away smugly, watching in his rear view mirror. She stayed stood there for several minutes, until she was out of visible sight to Robotnik. Of course, Robotnik was already listening in, making sure his little bug was working.

"Hmph," Robotnik heard Rouge say via the transmitter, "He thinks he can pull a fast one on my by putting this device on me with a simple back pat?" she asked no-one in particular as Robotnik realised fairly accurately that his back pat wasn't quite as subtle as he hoped, "Well, let's see him track this," she said as Robotnik heard it get crushed under her boot. The transmission cut out with crackling static.

Robotnik just laughed. He drove towards his base smiling all the way. Rouge had found the bug on her back alright, and, having found that, she would no longer suspect he would be tracking her, meaning she would no longer be looking for the two robots he had ordered to follow her. The robots he had spent three hours building, and had designed not to be heard by a bat.


	7. Archeology

Rouge would, sooner or later, fall back to her old ways, and the second she did, Robotnik would pounce. Her blackmail would be worthless if she could be arrested, and while G.U.N. would probably bail her out of any prison she ended up in, there was no way any media outlet would take her stories, even with proof. Plus she would end up even closer watched by law enforcement types, something that would hurt Rouge far more than just dropping the knowledge she had against Robotnik's alias.

For now, the scientist would play along; he had the financial reserves to go back to it, especially as, with this planning permission, the Northside Island Banking Trust would let him take out a very large amount, or give him a very lenient overdraft to try and get a slice of the profits they were sure Roger the cat would be able to make on his amusement park upon completion.

Hence Rouge was no longer a concern. Robotnik was sure she would get caught by his machines, and he would use this to his advantage. Just like he could hide the construction of his armies as the construction of a theme park, and would be able to turn said theme park into part of a much larger fort which he could use to defend himself.

Robotnik's main concern today was the temple he had read about. Until the confirmation of planning permission came through, which he assured himself would not take too long, it was all he had. He could not build his army without a factory, and he could not build a factory without the permission. But he could keep planning. He had already drawn up a detailed schematic to show for his amusement park, a design he wouldn't need to stick to, as anyone who questioned it could easily be silenced.

His robots had kept collecting data, none of which had pointed out anything of interest about the island. There were no fault lines, no hidden treasures, and while there where mineral reserves the scientist could access, none of them were particularly large or significant. But there was one anomaly, again in the temple; where no results came back at all.

The doctor was convinced it was worth investigating personally, but he still took twelve Egg Pawns, primarily because they were the most practical and all around general machines. Sure, Robotnik had created machines that were better lifters, machines that were much faster, and machines that were nigh invincible, but in an unknown scenario, that speciality could go horribly wrong. As he always would remind himself, what use would a heat proof robot be in an iceberg?

The temple was in a remote part of the mountains, considered off limits to the residents of Northside Island, due to both the dangers present, and the historical value of the site. Naturally, not being a citizen of the Island, Robotnik assumed these rules didn't apply to him, and he headed there, taking with him all the robots he came to the island with, and another six that met up with him at the base.

Located about two thirds the way up a steep mountain, six hundred and twenty three foot above sea level, at least according to the data Robotnik had gathered, of the temple's front was every bit as uninspiring as the scientist remembered from the painting he had seen in the museum not two days prior. It was a small building, constructed of old cobblestone, crudely thrown together for functionality. It wasn't garishly decorated like some temples were; it wasn't an impressive feat of architecture as some temples would be. Instead this was a simple temple.

Nevertheless curious, Robotnik walked inside. Whatever had resulted in the statistical anomaly would be found inside, and this was something the human wanted to know about. Waddling as he walked, he stepped slowly inside, followed by all twelve of the robots.

It was dark inside, and the room smelt stale, "Lights," commanded Robotnik as three of the Egg Pawns turned on large torches fitted within what would be their eyes. Each of them stood behind the doctor, his bloated shadow casting against the moss covered back wall. The human surveyed the temple slowly, but upon a complete turn of his head he reached a conclusion.

"There's nothing here!" the human shouted in anger, "All this time and effort, for nothing. Well that's just typical. Robots," he commanded with frustration, "Tear this place down."

The human walked outside as a dozen robots got to work. Robotnik knew the Egg Pawns were not the quickest at destruction but that gave him ample time to get a short distance away to best see it. This he wanted to stick around for, a simple pleasure to destroy what he saw was mocking him. In a way it was cathartic for the angry scientist.

As he turned to look, the human could see the robots smashing at the walls with the basic weapons they had been gifted by him. With pneumatic arms, even basic punching did some damage, especially to such an old and shoddily constructed structure. Such a small room would be no trouble for the twelve robots, and Robotnik would later tell the world the place had been destroyed in an avalanche, and use whatever nonsense curse he could invent tied to this fact to explain whatever he did. Sure, not everyone would buy it, but some would, and every second of doubt counted towards him meeting his goal.

Robotnik shielded his eyes as a bright light suddenly emerged from the temple. He looked away for a moment, allowing his eyes to attempt to adjust to the brightness. Looking inside properly, he immediately drew the correct conclusion, and demanded his robots stopped. Dutifully they complied as the scientist marched back into the room. Still attempting to block out much of the brightness he walked to the left hand wall, where one of the Egg Pawns had unwittingly revealed that there was more to the temple than just this one room. Without hesitation, Robotnik commanded the wall to be removed more carefully, and watched as the formerly small room opened up into a room now three times the size, with several doors at the end.

"What in the world?" Robotnik exclaimed, genuinely surprised by what he had found. Where the old room was basic, and subtle, this new extension was covered in gold, with intricate patterns and writing in a language the scientist didn't recognise decorating the room. The room was now much more fitting as a temple, and Robotnik couldn't help but feel a sense of wonderment at the place.

"Document everything," Robotnik commanded, "Do not let anything go unrecorded, and look at every room." The doctor wanted to know as much as he could about the place, and for good reason. He had been in enough temples, and knew the likelihood of all the traps, not to mention all the various gods, beasts, and who-knew-what-else that the temple was likely to contain.

As much as he wanted to get his answers quickly, he knew that it took time. It paid not to just break the container that says 'Do not break,' it only lead to more trouble whenever whatever had been broken would come back and wreak havoc. After all, if there was anything useful here, Robotnik wanted to know how to properly use it. He had heard the myth about it being the source of all the gold rings, the rings his nemesis used for protection, making handling this one especially important, as this gave him an opportunity to weaken his foe.

But there was nothing more here for him to do. Robotnik wasn't interested in the archaeology of the place. Sure, eventually he would map the island to lead through here, assuming it would make a good enough detour in the design of his maze, and no doubt position a prison egg somewhere in the middle, making sure, when he was ready to reveal his hand, that the hedgehog knew it was there, as it would make an ideal ambush point. But for now there was no reason for the human to stay; at least not until his robots found something of use.

Robotnik felt a small buzzing in his pocket, a small communicator. It was an email, from Wally, confirming his backing of Robotnik's theme park, and agreeing construction could start within the month. This was all that the human needed to enjoy his excavation; all he had to do now was build the park.


	8. Investigate

Two months of Robotnik's life passed very quickly. He began making the park, but with some concessions that he had been advised by the mayors assistants to make. Robotnik had been all too keen to accommodate these changes, they not only helped to build his cover as an innocent amusement park builder, but later, when he was ready to stop the masquerade, he would take a personal pleasure in deliberately destroying the areas that the environmentalists had lobbied to save.

Furthermore, a labour agreement had to be considered, Robotnik had to hire a workforce to build his park, even though the machines where more than capable. Because of this, the projections the human originally made on the completion date became delayed by several months. This was a serious concern, Robotnik simply did not have the patience to wait, but again, if he wanted to remain undercover, he would need to wait it out.

But in spite of the change of pace, the park was still going ahead on schedule. Similarly, his secret excavation of the temple was making great progress, and his computers had managed to decrypt over thirty percent of the language left within the temple. In a way, the way he was going about it was hindering Robotnik. If he had been willing to allow historians and archaeologists into the temple, they would've given him all the knowledge he needed right away.

This was not the plan though, and since Robotnik was waiting for the park to finish, he could wait for the decryption. The aim, after all, was a continuous reforming of the island, for as long as he could get away with it. It had already, with minimal effort, become a place for Robotnik to hide, it was slowly becoming a place for him to use as a base to construct more weapons and robots, and soon, with enough resources, it would serve as first a defensive fortress. From there he would be able to build and build, until he was ready to strike.

Robotnik himself however, was getting impatient. He knew he had to hide now; he couldn't start an actual island takeover, not until his numbers were higher. To do that he'd need an isolated factory, where he could make robots, and then a way to go about capturing any resistance he met.

It was the middle of the week when Angel Island first appeared on the horizon. It had got all of the islands inhabitants talking. For many, this was the first time they had ever personally seen the island since its existence had been revealed. The public had heard the story, the valiant hero stopped Robotnik's efforts, destroying the Death Egg, and in the course the events, had re-enabled the island into flight, raising it up and out of the ocean. To many it was a modern marvel, and a testament to the ancient Echidnas. But to Robotnik, it was just another setback.

Nevertheless, its presence made Robotnik more cautious. He didn't leave his remote base for the better part of a week while the flying landmass passed into, and then out of view. Robotnik had dedicated his time to research, and designing more weapons. He knew his arch rival often visited the island in the sky, so staying out of site was a must for the scientist. Ergo, Robotnik had no idea why, when he finally returned to the construction site three days after the floating island had gone, two diggers had been made out of action.

"What happened to those diggers?" Robotnik, disguised as Roger, yelled to anyone within earshot.

"Roger!" one of the supervisors, a skinny beaver replied, slightly scared. The beaver was one of the foremen on the park, thanks to his years of experience in construction. "T-they, just broke," he stammered "Trying to dig through something."

"What?" Robotnik shouted angrily, "That's what diggers are designed for, they dig."

"Sir," the Beaver replied, trying to calm Robotnik's temper. Robotnik was a very tough boss to please, "We've never seen anything like it."

"Show me," Robotnik sneered.

Reluctantly the beaver brought the disguised human down towards where one of the roller coasters was going to go. Half the holes for the struts had been dug, but then there was one hole which was much bigger. The beaver pointed towards it.

The scientist peered down at the hole. A dull black object was sat half buried in the dirt. It was about thirty feet long and about ten feet wide, and was sticking about a foot out from the excavated dirt.

"Some of the boys have been trying to remove it, sir," the beaver explained, "But we gave up when we saw how big it was."

"Have you told anyone this is here yet?" Robotnik asked thoughtfully. He was concerned by the presence of investigations into the park.

"No sir," the beaver answered; his forehead slightly sweaty with nerves.

"Good, don't."

"Sir?"

"If that is what I think it is," Robotnik replied calmly, "We'd better leave it alone. Tell the boys to fill the holes in; we'll move the coaster around a bit and put something else here, something that doesn't need any digging, like a picnic area. Get to it!" Robotnik ordered.

He smirked as he watched the beaver run off. In just two months, he had made that beaver completely terrified of him. It was one of Robotnik's fun side projects, and it had helped the scientist pass the time. Robotnik of course had only a vague idea what was down there; further study would be required to confirm his suspicions. But there wasn't any reason to let anybody else know that.

Later that night, after all the workers had gone home, and under the cover of darkness Robotnik returned to his park, this time as himself, and accompanied by a squadron of his finest excavating robots. Within two hours, the crew had removed the entire object, replaced all the dirt, and had even managed to bury a large spike trap in the soil to make up for the removal of the object. Robotnik went away laughing, his thoughts obsessed with what the object he had just dug up was, but his imagination picturing the spike trap going off while a group of people tucked into a picnic.


	9. Necessity

The excavated object revealed itself to be a long, black, cuboid object, carved with intricate details. A few dents and some natural decay had ruined it slightly, and carbon dating revealed it was over four thousand years old.

But this wasn't what had interested Robotnik. It was the material itself, not what it was that held the scientists mind. Robotnik called the metal Megatel, it was a composite material made of many other elements, processed many years ago in a way that Robotnik had yet to figure out. It was one of the mysteries of the world, and one he was determined to solve.

Megatel was an extremely tough, non magnetic, non conductive lightweight material, that could be easily be added to just about anything for extra defence. Hence such a large haul interested Robotnik, he could use it to his advantage.

Currently, his small supply of Megatel sat in his small collection of Egg-O-Matics, to protect himself from any attack. As the highest ranking officer in his private army, he deserved the protection. Not even his second in command had yet received such protection, but this supply would change that. This pile doubled the amount of Megatel he had found, and would allow him to build a few more nigh indestructible robots.

Robotnik didn't even look at the carvings on the box, before he set to work on melting it down. Gleefully, the scientist ordered his machines to take the black box down to an ore processing facility of his. Robotnik had commissioned the facility upon realising just how woeful Northside Island's current facilities were, and was running the business under another alias, so not to cause alarm amongst nosey troublemakers fearing a monopoly.

Upon its arrival the black box was dutifully cleaned in a large ore sorting machine. Through numerous processes and methods, the box was cleaned of all the dirt, but an ultrasound had produced a confusing result, an odd hollow area. Aware of the potential risks of whatever could've been inside, Robotnik order the box opened.

Two robots dutifully followed the command, attacking the box with blowtorches. Robotnik care to watch, and instead left them to it. He had had enough for the night, and turned himself to bed. As he lay in bed his mind began to wonder, was his plot becoming too complicated?

The next morning, the human began his normal routine, food, news, required checks, before returning to the processing facility. He wanted to be there when the box opened. Robotnik would never admit it, but he had become curious, after a report on his desk that morning had told him more about the temple in the mountains.

It took another two hours after Robotnik returned, nine in total, but the box finally split in to two pieces. Turning off the blow torches, the two robots stood there awaiting confirmation from their master to open the box. Robotnik shoved himself to the front, and eager to see the contents, forced the metal lid off the top. It slid along easily, letting out air and dust that hadn't seen light in millennia.

A partially broken skull stared at the scientist. Robotnik stepped back, unnerved, but undeterred. The box was a large coffin, with four bodies inside, each with gold rings around there limbs and neck. The bones were visible old, and partially decayed, yet the rings were still gleaming like they had just been made. Also in the box were a few relics, some pots, and a couple of gems.

Dismissively Robotnik cast them all to the floor. "Junk," he cried out, "Get rid of the contents, and then melt that coffin down. I want that Megatel, there's no point it being wasted on some dead," Robotnik paused and looked at the skeletons indecisively, "Creatures," he said, not being able to identify their species.

The coffin was weighed, and briefly the gems were checked for value. He had no use for them, but he kept a small collection of gems, just in case he ran into someone who wouldn't take pure cash. The skeletons were cast aside, Robotnik had them buried, only to avoid anyone finding the bodies and asking about them. The last thing he did, before he left, was send an order to his number two, before he left. The human had a lot of work still to do, and he did not have any more time to waste on a coffin.

Robotnik was keen to head back to his base. In the short time he'd been on the island, he had already gone from a temporary base out of the back of a large aircraft to a permanent shelter a mile away from the amusement park, hidden underground. From here he had his living quarters, a small planning room, a meagre laboratory, and a small scale factory which he used to build any equipment he couldn't buy from the Island, or anything he didn't want anyone to know Roger the Walrus was buying.

But this was not enough anymore. The human had realised just how on edge he had been when Angel Island had passed overhead, and Robotnik knew that he had made enough progress with the park now. It was time to start properly building. The factory would be expanded significantly, and Robotnik would begin making more robots. He had already got a few preliminary designs done, and already knew what he'd need for his various vehicles and buildings.

Robotnik put all his spare robots into the job of expanding his factory. This was the number one goal now, and the sooner he could make more robots, the sooner everything else could be done. Every robot, bar his security sentries, and those in the temple would be used.

There was a quiet beeping from the scientists left pocket. A small communicator was indicating a message. Robotnik glanced at it briefly, before heading upstairs again. The Megatel was done, and he had a visitor. As Robotnik returned to the entrance he was met by his second in command; a small blue robot, and a doppelganger of the human's biggest nemesis.


	10. Tuning

Metal was one of Robotnik's best robots, a bright blue machine with an image near identical to the human's biggest enemy, an irony that was never once lost on Robotnik. MDP, or Metal Doppelganger Project had begun after Robotnik's very first defeat. During his time on South Island, Robotnik had first been dismissive of the blue blurs efforts, but as the hedgehog kept winning, Robotnik began to realise that maybe there was something more to it than just simple luck.

Hence Robotnik's first project after his first defeat was to assess why he lost, and the conclusion was a combination of speed, spikes, and agility. Thus the MDP began; an effort to build a robot that could not only match, but surpass the efforts of the human's enemy. The first prototype was barely finished when it was thrown into action; a last minute experiment caused by the unexpected arrival of the blue hedgehog onto the Death Egg. It was a failure.

The design was improved by the time of Robotnik's raid on Angel Island, so much so that the obese scientist had made several, and used them as diversions while he rode the Death Egg to escape with the master emerald. Those robots also failed.

It was eventually deemed the problem was a lack of intelligence. So Robotnik scaled down the design, streamlined the product, and removed some of its direct offensive weaponry and focused instead on giving it the best AI he could. The final code was actually stolen from himself, via his time travelling adventures on the Miracle Planet.

Robotnik never once looked at the code when he downloaded it into the Metal Sonic; doing so would cause a paradox that would prevent the code from existing. Instead he wrote the code from scratch later on, during his downtime, and placed it in one of his safest storage holds, guarded by biometric security that only he could access. It still sits there now, waiting for Robotnik's past self to travel forwards in time while setting up the attempt to take the Miracle Planet.

It was this build of Metal that had been the most effective, and also the fastest of all of Robotnik's machines. Its AI however was what made it second in command to the human's empire. Unlike Egg Pawns, which were built purely to follow commands, Metal could think. The robot could reason and make decisions on its own. The robot seemed to the unobservant to be alive, and while Robotnik would dismiss such claims, it possessed an uncanny ability for reasoning and making informed decisions from any number of factors.

Yet Robotnik could never make an army of Metals. Robotnik had managed to create one battery to power Metal, but the design was lost in an attack. The battery that Metal was using was the same one from the first prototype, and no amount of attempts to replicate it had been successful. The Chaos Emeralds aside, there was only one material that could make a battery that small that efficient, and Robotnik had used his entire supply in making Metal. Even though Robotnik could make fake Chaos Emeralds, the power output in them would only last five seconds inside Metal; nowhere near long enough.

Hence Metal Sonic was a one of a kind robot, completely irreplaceable, and today he was going to get another upgrade. The newfound Megatel was more than enough to replace all of Metal Sonic's current armour, albeit at the price of his shape shifting abilities, reason enough for Robotnik to make a secondary protective stasis tube to store this new armour in, and allow Metal to swap freely between the two.

The overweight human began ordering machines about demanding them to replicate his original Metal Sonic armour designs. Without hesitation, the robots got to work, shaping the Megatel into the necessary parts. Meanwhile Robotnik met Metal in a briefing room. Robotnik had always made a conscious effort to keep Metal, like all his critical machines and data, away from his main networks, as well as keeping each network separate from each other. This served as protection, in case his systems were ever compromised. But in times like these, it meant Metal had no idea what was going on.

"Metal," Robotnik greeted his top soldier.

"What is your command Doctor?" the blue robot answered, his circular red sensors focused on the scientist, in the same way an animal's eyes would normally.

"We're getting behind schedule on this project," the human admitted, his face slightly pained as he did, "I need you to start a little project for me," he finished, a little smirk creeping across his face."

The robot stood motionless, his eyes nevertheless tracking the doctor as he paced around the room, "Which is what, Doctor?"

"A new robot power system design," Robotnik beamed, "and I need a few test pilots. The usual type, healthy, young, wouldn't be noticed as missing for a very long time."

"Understood, Doctor," the robot answered, as it readied itself for action, "How many?"

"Ten will be enough," Robotnik replied, "But I need to remain in hiding for now. Scour the whole world for test subjects if you have to, and take them to my factory underneath Turquoise Hill Zone. Report back to me when you have completed this task."

"Confirmed," Metal nodded, "Though query if I may Doctor?" the robot asked.

"Proceed," Dr Robotnik answered, always distrustful of whenever anything questioned him.

"Why was I summoned if I am to 'scour the whole world for test subjects', and take them to factory delta three?"

"You mean aside from the upgraded armour you are about to receive?" Robotnik scowled, "Make a note in your memory chips Metal, you may be second in command, but you still answer to me, and you still do as I say, even if it doesn't make sense to your feeble little mind!" the human yelled angrily, "I will not have my motivations questioned! You hear me? I am in charge, and if I want you to come to me, you will come."

The robot nodded dutifully, remaining otherwise static even in the face of his master's worst rage. It awaited confirmation that it could leave, and then left, without the slightest hint of annoyance or malice in spite of what it received. As it walked out of the office where Robotnik still sat, none of the other robots even glanced at this bright blue machine.

The scientist was still angry, not because of Metal's questioning of his orders, but because Metal had a point. It was redundant of Robotnik to call the robot here, particularly when the job did not require him to be on site. But it was the fact that Robotnik had been corrected that annoyed him, even though that was one of the things Metal's AI had been designed for. Metal was his second in command for a reason, because he alone could question Robotnik's decisions, and point out the flaws Robotnik otherwise missed.

The scientist hated to admit it, but he was not perfect. If he was, the world would already be under his rule. However, he made mistakes. Some admittedly weren't his fault; caused by things that he could not have possibly foreseen, while others were simply things that, on paper, work a charm, but when applied to the real world tended to be a bit less than ideal. But the mistakes that annoyed him where the ones he should've been able to account for, but didn't. Having Metal point these out would often prevent a failed encounter later, a useful thing to have, but would not save Robotnik's already rampant ego.


	11. Answers

Over ninety percent of Robotnik's total available robot workforce was now working on making a factory designed to increase the robot numbers. Save for the security robots, and those in the temple that he had been investigating, and Metal away on his own missions, Robotnik was currently unable to do anything else, but work on his designs for weaponry and robots. Of course this too had to fit between maintaining his fake identity as Roger the Walrus, the owner and builder of the new water park, which was merely cover.

Still, even in his cover as Roger, life was far from ideal. Though he had been doing an excellent job at not revealing his identity to anyone, many people had began to question the creation of the park in amongst what was previously an area listed as protected. Local newspapers had been snooping as they usually did, all eager to catch an expose on Roger, and had been painting him as a menace, one even going so far as to compare the Walrus' assumed evils up there with Robotnik himself.

Hence the human had agreed, after much harassment by the media, that he would give an interview. Originally he had been hesitant to do it, but now with his robots making a hidden factory, he needed the media to at the very least leave him alone. So once again Robotnik donned the costume, and went to the under construction park to stand and give a short speech and answer questions.

Robotnik arrived, wearing a suit over his full body costume, with reporters and camera crews waiting for them. He looked on from backstage, while a PR assistant stood making introductory speeches. Robotnik had no idea who she was, nor did he care, she was just some cat one of his underlings had hired. She didn't matter in the grand scheme of things, and Robotnik wouldn't really care if she did.

Nonetheless, he listened to her for his cue. She waffled on for a little bit about the park, before finally introducing Roger. Walking as calmly as he could, Robotnik walked out to a small wooden podium on the stage looking over a room full of eager press and journalists. He looked over them for a moment, trying to remain calm in what would be a nerve wracking situation if he didn't already know that everything he was about to say was a pack of lies.

"Fellow citizens of Northside Island," he opened. His first words were a deliberate psychological trick to try and instantly make the connection that he was like those who deemed him otherwise. "I want to address a few issues that have been plaguing my company lately," he continued, his efforts here to both disconnect himself centrally from what was going on, and also to further his claims of being part of the community he was using.

"I understand that there have been some frustrations about the construction of the Hydratic Carnival Zone," as Robotnik had taken to calling the place, "and in particular about how we are 'damaging the sensitive ecosystem'," Robotnik continued trying to hide his glee and sarcasm. "I appreciate that we are in fact located within a stone's throw of some of Northside Island's most beautiful and important natural forests, but I feel that the concern has been misattributed. Upon the initial planning of this park we looked into locations that would be both close enough to a local water source so we could avoid further deforestation by digging through excess soil and also inland enough to not destroy Northside Island's coastline.

"We worked very closely with an independent environmental agency," Robotnik admitted, though he failed to declare that by 'work with' he actually meant 'bribed extensively', "and found that this site in particular was recently damaged by flash flooding," Robotnik said, looking as several of the journalists nodded with each other. "The environmental agencies concluded that this place, while repairable, no longer deserved it's protected status."

"Do you have any proof of this?" came a cry from one of the news reporters in the crowd. Robotnik failed to identify which one, but was prepared for such a question.

"The original planning permission should realistically be enough. Those aren't granted on areas listed as protected" Robotnik smiled, knowing that wouldn't sedate the reporter at all, "But if you need further proof, contact the Mobian Environment Organisation. There report states that, and I quote, 'The two miles in question,' the place where Hydratic Carnival Zone is now under construction, 'have sustained heavy flood damage, and would no longer meet the criteria necessary, hence it is regrettably the MEO's decision to declare that area as not protected. However," Robotnik continued quoting, "Due to the nature and protected status of the surrounding land, MEO must insist that this land be used only for naturalistic commercial ventures, such as camping sites, nature retreats, or other business enterprises that promote the natural environment." Underneath his costume, Robotnik smirked slightly. He was sure that was enough to silence his critics.

"And you think this water park of yours is promoting nature?" the reporter declared again. Robotnik got a good look this time; it was a black cat, short and scrawny. She was making things tricky, and Robotnik made a mental note to find out who she was.

"Personally, I believe we are doing all we can. Now I will concede that the construction is not ideal, but that is the price of progress," Robotnik replied, the first honest thing he'd said throughout the entire press conference. "Construction is only temporary, but what will follow is a world changing Water Park that will not only be completely nature powered," Robotnik continued, returning to his deceit, "and will invest fifteen percent of its profits into looking after the surrounding natural habitat. Furthermore, I also intend to invest further into flood proofing the entire river, making it safer for not just visitors to the park, but for any residents who live near the water banks."

The crowd seemed mostly sedated on that line. It was a fantastic piece of rubbish that Robotnik had pretty much made up. Yes, he did intend to flood proof the river, but his ideal way of doing it was to completely conceal the river into a network of pipes, and distribute the water around the island as part of the factory process, much farther from what he imagined people were picturing.

"I understand how this must look," Robotnik continued, "And it must seem suspicious that someone from overseas is coming here attempting to turn a profit. But the way I see it is I'm generating money into your economy. People will come from all over the world to this park," Robotnik boasted, again omitting how they would be forcibly kidnapped and turned into robots, "And the money they bring will go to pay for the wages of park staff, locals to the island, just like the locals who are helping to build the park. Hydratic Carnival Zone will benefit all of us," Robotnik grinned, fully appreciative of his own double meanings.

Robotnik could tell that he was winning over most of the reporters. One or two were still sceptical, but this was always going to be the case. All Robotnik needed was the majority, and he would be able to carry on unhindered by the press.

But there was still that one. That cat still remained sceptical. "And what if your park tanks?" she asked, "Who will fit the bill when the place goes under?"

"Ideally," Robotnik replied, taking a moment to think of the best answer, "The park would be the runaway success I'm hoping. But, as every businessman knows, not everything succeeds, and if the park should happen to fail then the park itself would be an asset of my company, and would therefore revert to my company. Obviously I don't want to expand too far on my businesses contingency plans, the board of directors would not be too happy about that I assure you," Robotnik lied again, the entire company was still just him and his robots, all the employees were merely contractors to him. "The point is if the park looks to be a failure, I will cut my losses long before I am bankrupt. My company has made many other successful parks in the past, including the refitted and repurposed Casino Night Zone."

"So if it does fail?"

"I will close it down, and repurpose what I can into my other parks. I assure you, if this endeavour completely fails, the area will be largely clear, and still perfectly usable." Robotnik replied, again choosing to omit that the only use it would have should such a failure happen would be as a trash heap.

"Now, are there any further questions?" Robotnik asked his audience. He waited patiently for a moment, as the press collectively decided they had heard all they could. While some of them weren't fully happy, Robotnik knew that they wouldn't ask anymore, assuming all they'd get out of Roger would be positive spin.

The press conference ended shortly after. As Robotnik walked off the stage he watched from the back as the press were slowly herded out. The room emptied, and Robotnik sighed quietly. That one reporter had given him so much grief, and he wanted to know who she was. He began researching, looking through the list of guest names against the visitor past numbers that had been handed out. He saw from the stage that she was number seventeen, and he eagerly scoured the list until he got the name.

"Honey the Cat," he muttered, "I must keep note of that."


	12. Inspect

After the press conference Robotnik had just one thing on his mind, who this reporter was, and why she was so interested in how the park was going to be run? Until today he had never heard of the reporter, she was not a big name journalist, merely working for a paper that only sold on Northside Island. But still, Honey the Cat had given him a lot of trouble, and the scientist was convinced it was all intentional.

As he sat swivelling on a grey executive office chair, his eyes focused on a computer screen filled with the information he could retrieve on the black cat, his mind began to wonder. As far as he knew, she had no reason to personally slight him, so she had no motive. Still, the human was focused on her. He trawled through her public blogs, her social media profiles, her various online accounts, scouring for any information he could gleam from other, but other than the usual junk he found nothing useful.

Just as he was about to give up, he found one image. He'd almost ignored it. It was a photo of her one of her friends had posted, just her sat in some coffee shop, a big cheesey grin on her face. Robotnik had nearly dismissed it as irrelevant when he noticed something behind her. It was a small bug which emitted a photoflash glare on the picture. At first it merely caught his eye, but then he began properly looking at it.

"That's it!" he said, "That's where I'd recognised this cat from!" he yelled, as he began digging through some files he'd received. Sure enough, there was a two week old file from one of his robots, the one that had been tracking Rouge the Bat. Robotnik had barely been looking through these files, due primarily to his other pre-occupation, but he had recalled seeing this one moment in time before in a preview image on the batch file.

Robotnik took a proper look at all the photo's this little bug had given him from that date. Most were irrelevant, but there was a small batch that made it clear that not only had Rouge ran into Honey, but they had actively spoken. Acting quickly he looked at the time code on the picture, and found the audio from that moment. Its quality was poor, due in part to the limits of the robot, but it was unmistakable, Rouge had spoken to Honey about the park.

It became clear to Robotnik now, in spite of her paid off silence, Rouge had blabbed. Honey had learned of Roger's efforts to bribe Rouge, and while Rouge had been true to her word not to say any more, she had tipped off Honey into digging deeper into the story. Honey was clearly hoping this story would be the big scope that got her a pay rise and a promotion, Robotnik thought, hence it was no wonder she was pressuring him. Now the question was what could Robotnik do about it?

Robotnik's mind began racing. His first thought was to simply kill her. But that raised too many questions. His next thought was again to pay her off as well, but something deep inside Robotnik knew that this story probably meant more to the cat that any amount of money could. Then he considered trying to persuade her she was wrong, but he reasoned that would only serve to make him more suspicious. Then it dawned on him. It was the perfect idea that would solve this problem. He began to send an encrypted signal to Metal.

"Metal, come in," Robotnik spoke into a microphone.

"Receiving," the dull robotic voice of Metal replied.

"I have an amendment to my previous order," the doctor grinned, "An additional target. I'm sending you an encrypted file containing the data on the target now. Take her with whatever prisoners you have already."

"Understood" Metal answered, "Will that be all?"

"No," The bloated human replied, "This one's a little more complicated. You need to be seen taking her. Make it look like you were being careless. Not too many witnesses; just enough for them to suspect my work."

"Sir?" Metal questioned.

"Do not question this! It is imperative that I look guilty of her disappearance."

"Understood. I will capture her as soon as possible," Metal answered.

Robotnik turned the communication off. The plot was so simple. Robotnik could take the blame for her disappearance. Nothing so far had connected Robotnik to Roger, and while people would be suspicious of Robotnik, it would take them too long to make the connection between Honey's disappearance, and her suspicions of the park, especially when other people, similar to herself, had also been taken by Robotnik.

The scientist was grinning wildly at the massive irony of the actions of Robotnik being a cover for what he himself was up to. But Robotnik was still aware that he couldn't gloat, at least not yet. Furthermore, he still needed to keep one eye out. Making it obvious he was involved in someone, anyone's kidnap would send that pesky hedgehog out investigating, and he still wasn't ready for that yet. Robotnik wanted to keep that encounter on hold for as long as possible, until the Northside Island was mostly his, and the human had a lot more defences in place.

Yet still the human was racing ahead of himself. The park still wasn't anywhere near ready, and the majority of his robots were busy making other robots. Time was both his alley and his enemy, the longer it took his nemesis to arrive, the more prepared he was, but the longer he had to wait, the more he had to do. Robotnik needed to be prepared for any eventuality, anything from the hedgehog arriving now, to getting the whole island fully established without it being noticed. As much as the scientist hated to admit it, he was more prepared for the former.

Robotnik's bases were very rarely finished in time. The closest he ever got was a fully functional Death Egg. Even with time on his side, in his attack on the miraculous Little Planet, he still only had about a third of the planet ready before the hedgehog's initial appearance. One time Robotnik had even been less than a week into preparing a base when the hedgehog arrived. It was a very short fight, less than a dozen robots, and Robotnik left flying off, with almost nothing to show for it. He managed to make it seem like it was just a one off surprise attack, to remind the hedgehog that the scientist was still around, but the truth was he had been caught off guard.

A quiet beeping on the communicator Robotnik had just been using snapped him from his thoughts. "What is it?" Robotnik shouted down into the receiver.

"Robotnik your graciousness," the Egg-Pawn grovelled in its pre-programmed way, "excavation of the ruins is complete. All areas are accessible. We await further orders."

"Prepare for my arrival," Robotnik grinned. This was a good chance for him to get some actual traps set up. While most the island was still accessible by the public, this one was abandoned, and hence this could finally be the first zone he could rig up as a defensive barrier between the hedgehog and himself.


	13. Notice

On his original expedition to the remote mountains of Northside Island, Doctor Robotnik had been initially unimpressed by what he had seen. However, in the past couple of months his robots had opened up the mountain's temple considerably, unearthing a wealth of treasures and inscriptions from the native culture that had initially created this temple. Statues, carvings, ornate jewellery, and all sorts of items of historical significance abound. Though not perhaps initially obvious, the contents of the ruins were beyond priceless, and to the right collector, Robotnik could make a fortune off of what was buried here.

This didn't interest the rotund human. As he stood in the entrance, he could now see the full extent of the chamber, and all the rooms it lead to, and he had but one thought on his mind; is there anything that can aid me in my quest for power? Over his time spent trying to take over the world, Robotnik had found, but unfortunately seldom ever kept, a lot of objects that held mystical powers. While chief amongst those was the Chaos Emeralds, the seven multi-coloured gems that had been the key to his downfall once too often, there were other prizes to be had.

But this temple, at least according to legends, was the key to the gold rings. Small hoops of metal that somehow acted as protection to those who opposed Robotnik. While not strictly a power source, at least not in the same vein of some of the other treasures he'd found, the answer to where they came from, and more importantly how to get rid of them, would serve him far better than even a dozen robot factories could.

Robotnik looked around once more. The electrical lights put in place by his robots served his eyes much better than the dim view he had originally. The temple was decorated with lots of pictures, and a lot of the walls bore messages in a native tongue he didn't recognise. Fortunately, he was prepared for this, and came armed with a scanning translator, and connecting it directly to a port in the lead robot, he downloaded the information he needed to read the walls for himself as he walked around.

Much of what was written was fairly standard stuff. The written scrawls of primitive culture that wasn't anywhere near as scientifically advanced as Robotnik's empire, and their beliefs about the world in which they lived. The doctor found it baffling how misinformed and clueless this culture was, and didn't care much for their philosophy or beliefs for the dead.

But one thing did catch his attention. He had been wandering around for about half an hour, overturning pots and small containers looking for any sort of useful indicators of power, when he spotted one decorative pot. Naturally the robots, unable to comprehend potential meanings in images, had ignored it, which is why he had insisted upon having a proper look around.

The pot seemed to tell a tale of a group of demons, and how the attacked the village of this group of what he was sure was ants, or possibly some other sort of insects, it didn't really matter too much. What did matter was the fact that the demons seemed to hold onto a large gem. This alone was enough to pique Robotnik's interest.

"Robots," he commanded, an air of immediacy in his voice, "show me where else in this temple an image like this," he said, motioning towards one of the red demons on the vase, "has been seen."

The robot leader nodded, "If you would follow me noble sir," it answered, as it lead Robotnik up a series of stairs. The human followed slowly, his out of shape body giving him trouble as he went for the third flight. He mentally cursed this temple; most the passageways were much too narrow for his Egg mobile, to fit through, hence his reliance on his much underused feet.

The pair reached the top, the very top of the temple in fact and was greeted by a huge wall mural, surrounded by images of the same bugs, and the same red demons. The demons sat around the top, looking menacing, while the bugs, which the scientist was now ninety percent sure were ants, lined the bottom, all clutching gold rings. In the centre was an inscription. The human took out his scanner.

"This temple remains as a warning," the scanner deciphered from the wall, as Robotnik dictated aloud, "to all those who oppose us. We will not back down, even in our deaths. We will protect this world, as we always have done, and always will, from any threat that may arise, and will only serve those who are noble of heart and mind.

"Our protection lies within the rings. They have always protected us," the human continued to dictate, "from the Monsters of Chaos that attack us. They are our enemy, consumed by the darkness they sought to control. We have fought them with everything we have, but we could merely contain them within the gems.

"They seek to destroy everything, and without the protection of the rings, they will succeed. The rings are the key, they neutralise the chaos, leaving the Monsters powerless. Do not worry about running out of rings; they are a constant, a by-product of the entrapment process. So long as they stay trapped within the gems, the rings will keep appearing, to keep them trapped.

"They are never meant to be freed. We learned long ago that the gems exist as a prison for them, and it is with the blessing of the Gods that they stay entrapped within." Robotnik finished reading.

Thinking about what he had just read, Robotnik was sceptical. A lot of it sounded like superstitious nonsense, but then so did a lot of the things he had encountered. While scientifically he had no answers, it offered an explanation for the rings, an artificial remnant. His mind ticked over. If the rings were the blessing of a god, then that would explain their erratic nature.

Yet Robotnik was nothing if not a man of science; some superstitious nonsense from thousands of years ago was not going to persuade him, not at least without any form of proof. If he wanted answers, he would have to find the either the god the text referred to, or the monsters. And since he currently had no desire to find either, Robotnik was not going to think too much about it.

Robotnik turned back to his lead robot, "Do you have the whole place documented?"

The robot nodded, "Oh yes, oh imperious one."

"Then begin turning this place into a trap. I want to see that spikeball struggle should he even manage to get here at all. Build a comprehensive system of dead ends and traps. I don't care if you have to drown him, stab him, or crush him under rubble. I will not tolerate any failures; you will all be for the chop should he succeed in getting through," the scientist declared, planning for the arrival of the hedgehog as an inevitability, even though there had been no such indication he had any intent of arriving.

Robotnik looked around some more, "Be sure to make some room for an ambush point too," the human scowled, "somewhere near the bottom. I've got a lovely idea for a machine that can throw some of the ruins at the hedgehog. Use a prison egg as bait, the stupid rodent always falls for those when he sees them."

In a perfect world, Robotnik would design the whole set-up himself, and it would be a flawless obstacle course that really showed the scientist just what the hedgehog was actually capable of, only to finish him off once he reached the end. The problem was that it was impossible to cover such a large amount of land quick enough to fully cover it in traps, and guarantee that those traps would be where the hedgehog would go. Designing flawless traps by his self would take too long, so he had to leave most of it to his robots, and the areas he did design himself usually weren't complete when the hedgehog showed up.

Ultimately, it always came down to one thing. Robotnik was just one man, up against an adversary who could break the sound barrier. Beating something like that, as he always justified to his self, was a long game, just waiting for the hedgehog to make that one mistake he couldn't recover from.


	14. Ideas

Motivated by the successful excavation of an entire temple, the scientist began to design new traps and equipment, as well as a series of weapons for his Egg-mobiles to use in a fight. He had already picked out key areas, the temple itself served as a good location to lure and bait the hedgehog, and other areas were coming along nicely.

The Hydratic Carnival Zone too would become an area all of itself, a key point in the route he knew his adversary would inevitably take. Robotnik knew that his adversary would be suspicious of a new carnival, especially if he plastered his human face all over it once he was ready to put his plan fully into motion.

Furthermore, he intended to modify the highway's that connected the major cities. Two of them would be flat out destroyed, replaced instead by hovercar transports that he would disable the second the hedgehog showed. These could not only service all three cities better than standard roads, but disabling there use at the mere sight of the hedgehog would force him to take the one remaining tarmac highway, a twisted nightmare of the road that the doctor could only imagine the that the blue blur would struggle to run along.

But there was one thing he needed most of all. A flying fortress. Ever since Robotnik had invaded South Island, he knew that a flying fortress was more essential than any other type of zone or barrier for several reasons: Firstly, a flying fortress was a great mass transporter, be it bombs or troops or equipment, it was far easier to move a lot of items through the sky than over land.

Secondly, a flying fortress offered far more strategic options. Not just from an offensive standpoint, though throwing bombs atop an entire zone was always great fun Robotnik would admit, but having a flying fortress gave an easily visible target the hedgehog would move towards, one Robotnik could reposition to his hearts content and keep stalling his enemy for as long as he needed to.

Thirdly though, and perhaps most importantly, while the fox had that stupid bi-plane, the blue hedgehog himself couldn't just directly jump onto his flying fortress unless Robotnik allowed it. In essence, a flying fortress gave Robotnik the greatest possible control over where and when a fight could happen, and where the hedgehog may end up should the fight end. The human had gone through many flying fortresses, a lot of them crashing as a direct result of his confrontations, but never once did he feel let down by any of them.

This was why he needed a new one. His most recent one had slammed into a side of a mountain as an indirect result of his last battle. The hedgehog had managed to break flight controls, and rather than listen to reason that they needed to fix course, he chose instead to battle the scientist, preventing Robotnik from stopping the crash.

However, Robotnik couldn't just build a new one this time. Last time he had been able to mask his fortress as an engine and propulsion research and development lab, hiding most the actual fort underground, then literally blowing the factory wide open to get the ship out and taking to the skies. This time however he didn't have anywhere to build it. His factories were all working on robot manufacturing, and were too small to make something as large as he would need.

The scientist consulted one of his maps. With the site of the park masking his factories, the temple up in the mountains, the three densely populated cities, a quarry he had been using to mine for resources for the park, all that was left were the jungle, and some open fields. Neither was perfect, but they would have to do. After all, Robotnik was now starting to get idle robots, and this gave them something to do.

The robots began tunnelling that night, working from a hidden spot in the jungle. Sent in small batches, with a few more added each time, the robots first began tunnelling under the open fields. Over the coming few weeks, they would excavate a room big enough to act as a hanger for a flying fortress, and then actually build it for themselves. The entire thing would be built exactly to plan, created exactly like a simulated model the doctor had designed. It was something he had come up with during his time in hiding.

This one had been designed for speed. Northside Island was small, but Robotnik knew he could make the most of it by making his enemy run towards the fortress, then move it out into the edge of the island, and if need be even crash into the ocean, all just to stall that pesky hedgehog. The fortress would be used to lure him around the island, taking the hedgehog where the scientist wanted him to go.

In his early days, Robotnik was sure that his nemesis would get stopped. He initially never sent out his strongest machines 'just in case', saving them for later, when the hedgehog got closer, and he needed greater defence. But now Robotnik was almost certain that the hedgehog would succeed. Hence his gameplan had changed. It was no longer about direct onslaught, and using the biggest weapon available, but instead a bit more psychological, goading his enemy, being resilient, and waiting for the moment that would inevitably see the hedgehog make his fatal mistake.

This is why the island was being designed as a prolonged trail. By the time Robotnik was done, assuming the hedgehog didn't show up early and try to stop him, the island would be one long, almost linear path that doubled and trebled back on itself. This would give Robotnik more time to not only defend himself, but also put his actual plan into motion. After all, why go to the effort of making an army of robots, if you're not going to do anything with them?

Compared to some of his other efforts however, Robotnik's plan this time was a lot more reliant on getting everything done to schedule. While previous efforts had been as simple as unearthing a legendary God and blackmailing the world with the threat of its release, this one was a back to basic approach; build a giant super-weapon, and use its full destructive power to force zone leaders to surrender control to the scientist.

There was just one slight flaw currently; Robotnik had yet to actually develop the weapon in question. Truth was that maintaining the cover story was proving so much harder, and demanding so much more of his time than he was expecting that he had been unable to take any time to build a full weapon. This was part of why he was eager to get to the temple, he was actually hoping to find an answer to more than one puzzle, and find something that would be usable in his pursuits.

As Robotnik made his travel back to his main base, underneath the Hydratic Carnival Zone he put his mind to work, desperately trying to make something useful of his trip. The expedition hadn't been as fruitful as the human had hoped, though he did find out about a decent cover story for any of the disappearances he would go on to cause so long as he could successfully leak some of his findings out to the museum, and successfully foreshadow it just enough so people's natural superstitions would take over.

It was when he came to a river that his brained suddenly received a flash of inspiration. Water! More specifically, if Robotnik could take control of all the water on the planet, perhaps by developing a chemical or a machine that could drain the oceans then he could use this new control to get the rest of the world to let him do more of what he wanted. After all, how many Zones would be willing to go without water? Robotnik cackled, the idea was good, and the rest of the drive was spent figuring out what he would need to do such a thing.


	15. Nurture

The whole ride back to his base had Robotnik thinking over ways to reduce the planets liquid surplus. The answer, Robotnik concluded, was a chemical one due to the sheer amount of water on the planet. It was simply too big a task to completely remove and store all the water, literally requiring a warehouse as big as an ocean. But developing a toxin to make the water unusable for anything, while also having an anti-toxin to counteract it available to concede to his empire, now that was a workable plan. One that had a couple of things going for it, firstly that Robotnik had spent the last few months pretending to build a water park, which with just a few simple modifications, when the time was right, could service him as a development lab for his water toxins. And secondly, much to Robotnik's delight, his number one adversary couldn't swim, which made defending himself there, should it ever come to it, much easier.

Upon his arrival Robotnik was greeted with further news. Metal had managed to capture a few potential test subjects, and had sent them into transit in a prison egg to Robotnik's main base within Northside Island. By the end of the day, Robotnik would have enough bodies to start testing a new prototype power source for his forces.

But by far the biggest news Robotnik came back to was that the underground factory had now made enough robots for phase two of his plan. Phase two was the start of the takeover of the Island. Still starting small, the scientist would one by one replace the populace with machines. Most went in the cover of darkness, usually in such a way that very few people would realise anyone was gone until Robotnik was ready to take the rest of them. In the mean time, the people he would take would be captured and stored.

Robotnik routinely took to storing his prisoners in prison eggs. While they were a little cramped, they allowed the subjects inside to be kept in a harmless stasis, meaning they take a lot less space than they would as direct prisoners. Prison eggs were almost always left in fairly obvious places, acting as bait for the human's traps, which is why they had a big escape button on them.

At first it was merely a quick release, to allow for a quicker roboticization process, but the scientist soon realised that the prison eggs gave him further strategy. Quite often, Robotnik could make sure he was 'accidentally' overheard discussing the locations of other prison eggs. Such a strategy could routinely send the hedgehog off course, giving Robotnik more time to get things ready.

As he got back into his office he looked at his computer, or more specifically, he wanted to look at the calendar he had on it. For all his intelligence, Robotnik often needed to see something in order to be able to fully understand it. Sure, he could very easily do complicated mathematics without a seconds thought in his mind, but he was also incapable of visualising anything.

His eyes widened with horror as he realised something. His schedule didn't align at all. He had declared to his park employees that the job would be over within two months, yet he needed at least three months to fully take over the island, and have the toxin and anti-toxin combo ready to use.

"What am I going to do?" Robotnik asked himself rhetorically, "I can't just have the park open for a month, as that runs the risk that someone will find me even more than having the construction workers around. Not to mention I need the noise to mark my own construction.

"Or do I?" Robotnik mused to himself, his hand now resting on his chin, "After all, nobodies noticed my night construction, maybe I'm not as loud as I thought I was. Hmm, but I still need to stall the construction of the park. I can't ask the workers to stop, but maybe..." Robotnik didn't finish his sentence as he had already hit upon a perfectly usable idea.

The next morning the overweight scientist began to re-apply his Roger the Walrus costume. Carefully putting the last of the make-up on, he headed out into the construction area, and stood for a moment, watching as his staff cracked on. The main focus today seemed to be something to do with one of the rollercoaster's. Despite receiving regular updates to the place, Robotnik honestly had no idea what was going on in this park, he didn't care too much for it as anything other than a defensive point.

Still, he grinned slightly as he wandered around, looking at the construction. Organised piles of metal making sculptures of mathematics and science from the nature they came, taking the chaos that nature provided and turning it into something useful, and here, amongst the construction was where Robotnik could most appreciate that art at its finest.

Robotnik, dressed as Roger, stood next to a couple of unused diggers, "Gather 'round men," he called out, keeping his voice firm yet as pleasant as he could muster considering what he was about to do.

Around him stood fifty or so assorted animals, all of them builders, though each with their own specialisations. Some were plumbers, some were electricians, some were steel workers, one of them was even an accomplished jazz pianist, though he never revealed that to any of his workmates. They all looked relatively fresh faced and about as eager as any other set of builders to get on with what they were doing.

"Gentlemen," Robotnik said, "I'm afraid I've a bit of bad news," the man finished trying to hide a smile while the crowd around him murmured worriedly. "It seems that the park has gone slightly over budget." Robotnik said as he watched the cogs in the minds of each of the builders turn over to realise what this meant.

"I tried to strike up a deal with the higher ups, but they wouldn't have it. I also tried to get loans both from the banks and the government office, but they seem to have stopped working with me. I've even lowered my own wages first so that no-one here would have to give up working on the park, but alas I'm afraid a few of you will be walking out."

"Oh yeah?!" one of the voices yelled out from the already angry crowd, "well what if we all walked out?"

Robotnik feigned looking flabbergasted at the notion when another voice yelled out "Yeah, you tell your bosses either all of us works or none of us."

"Strike!" a third one yelled, "C'mon boys, to the picket line."

"No wait," Robotnik yelled out as he pretend to halt the industrial action from happening. As each of the staff downed tools and abandoned the equipment the disguised human suppressed the urge to smirk. The workers were striking. This gave Robotnik as long as he needed to get everything ready in time.

Robotnik walked out to his office, smiling. The builders had done exactly what he'd expected in rebelling. All it took was a bit of subtle nudging and he had them doing what he wanted, and the best part is they thought it displeased him. Genius, Robotnik grinned, utter genius.


	16. Grab

Honey woke up later than she had hoped. True, today was a much earned day off, but still, she had a lot to do today. Wearily she rolled out of her bed, threw on some clothes, and headed for her kitchen. Yes, she had a lot to do, but as far as she was concerned, today was going to be a normal day off.

Honey's day was not going to be a normal day off. In fact, today was going to be one of the weirdest of her life. For once she would be at the dead centre of breaking news. Unfortunately for her, and her career, it would be a story that would not be broken for months.

It started with a typical trip to the grocery store. Nothing abnormal happened upon entry, the store itself was normal, there was even a two for one on tuna, but what was abnormal was what happened as she left. Honey walked into the car park, as she had done hundreds of times before, to find a different car where she had parked. It was a blue convertible, instead of her red hatchback.

Confused, Honey looked around the rest of the car park. Nothing. She didn't even see a remotely similar car. She checked her pockets. The keys were still there. Eager for any sort of confirmation, she clicked the doors unlocked, hoping to hear a car open up. Still nothing.

Then Honey got really worried. She was sure she'd parked in this lot; she'd have no reason to park elsewhere. Nervously she reached into her pocket for her phone. It too was still there. She rang the police.

"What's the emergency?" the reply came.

"M-my car," Honey stammered, "I was just shopping, and someone's nicked my car while I was inside."

"Okay, where are you?" the officer asked, a slight crackle of static on the line.

Honey gave the officer the location of the shop, and waited. She went inside, noticing some security cameras, including one looking at exactly where her car was. She hoped someone inside would maybe be able to help.

"I'm very sorry ma'am," the duty manager of the shop said to her. He was a snivelling little weasel, exactly the sort of person who didn't deserve to be in charge, but managed to work his way up the chain. "But I'm afraid we can't let you see the security camera footage. However, if you want," the weasel continued, smirking slightly, "you could always use one of our company taxis to get home."

Honey declined. She couldn't believe the nerve of the guy trying to make money off of her situation. The cat stood there, eagerly waiting the police officer. He turned up ten minutes later, not even remotely apologising for the incident. The cat looked at the officer. He was a somewhat taller hedgehog, wearing the usual Northside Island police officers uniform.

"Right, are you the lady who rang about the stolen car?" the officer asked.

"Yes," the cat replied, "And this store won't let me see the security camera records either."

The hedgehog hesitated for a moment, before replying, "Well that's normal. Even police officers would have to wait for the tape to be authorised, which can take up to seventy two hours."

"Well then what am I supposed to do? How am I s'posed to do anything?" the cat yelled angrily, "I'm a reporter, my car is my livelihood."

The officer put his hand to his chin and thought to himself for a moment. "I'm sorry madam;" he said slowly, "Best I can do for now is give you a lift home in the squad car."

Begrudgingly the cat accepted. The officer even volunteered to carry her shopping bags for her. Honey assumed this was an effort to calm her down. Even she would admit she'd never lost her temper that much before.

The police car was right at the front of the store. As she headed towards it with the officer, she heard one or two people murmuring, wondering what she'd done to get arrested. Honey ignored it; she had bigger things to worry about. She sat down in the front of the car, the officer in the driver's seat. She told the hedgehog where she lived, and the policeman nodded, starting the engine. As she drove out of the car park, she noticed that the blue convertible was still sat there.

Honey began to calm down. The officer had mentioned that her insurance might give her a courtesy car. This at least took the work worries off her mind. But still, she was annoyed that it had happened. She had heard it happen often enough, but she never expected to be a victim.

"Hey, wait a minute," Honey said, as she saw some very familiar roads go past, "You've gone the wrong way."

The officer looked directly at her, "No, I haven't."

Honey looked aghast as the image of the hedgehog in the driver's seat shifted slightly. The eyes flickered red briefly, and an inorganic smile crept across its face. A loud clunk sealed the doors locked, and the car kept driving. Honey panicked wildly.

"Don't waste energy ma'am," the officer declared.

"What are you?" Honey shrieked.

"That does not concern you," the hedgehog declared, "You are to be taken to my master." With that the car began releasing a thick green smoke, one that made Honey cough and wheeze until she passed out.

* * *

><p>With construction now halted, and a loud picket line outside, Robotnik had been granted much more time available to commit to his research. Today was an important day; development of his water pollutant would begin.<p>

Hence the scientist, donned in a full lab coat, adorned with safety goggles, spent the entire day inside a laboratory he had built deep underground. Surrounded by beakers, chemicals, clipboards and all the tools he would need, the human had done all the work, and was now needing a test subject. Fortunately, he had just received delivery of one.

The cat was brought unconscious into Robotnik's laboratory, where she was placed in a chair and restrained. Robotnik stood over her, holding a small perfume bottle filled with a red liquid. He sprayed it into the unconscious cats face, and she began to stir.

The cat was immediately startled, first from the memories that were in her head, then with the realisation that she was tied down, and finally at who she was in the presence of.

"I am the great doctor Ivo Robotnik," the man declared, his arms behind his back, "and I formerly welcome you as the first to test my newest invention."


	17. Waiting

The doctor waddled around the lab, eager and triumphant, as if he'd just caught his sworn enemy, even though the cat that was currently his captive was merely nothing more than a total stranger to him, albeit one that had been an annoyance of late. Nevertheless, Robotnik played his part and acted like his current captive was the most important rival of his.

He wandered around the lab, picking up beakers and vials, and examining them thoroughly. Not one of them was a surprise to them, in fact most of the beakers merely just had coloured water in, but right now this was not about science. This was all an act. Robotnik loved the theatrics involved with taking a prisoner, and was overjoyed to be able to really play up the charade of being the evil megalomaniac his enemies often painted him as.

"Now then, what shall we test on you?" the doctor said directly to Honey, fully aware exactly what his intention was, but enjoying watching her squirm all the same, "Perhaps we should try the mind eraser," he said holding up a random laser gun, "or maybe my newest mind control device?"

"Why have you captured me?" the cat asked, frustrated with having been confined by the metal restraints to the chair in the centre of the lab.

"To use a test subject of course," the human responded gleefully.

"But why me?" the cat asked again, "What threat could I possibly pose?"

"Threat? Pot luck is all," he lied, not wanting to reveal the connection between himself and her if she hadn't worked it out yet, "You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"How is being kidnapped by a phoney-baloney police officer 'pot luck'?"

"Oh be quiet you snivelling pussy," the doctor scowled, "Are you really that stupid you can't understand that I merely sent my machine out to kidnap whatever unlucky creature called for help that day?"

Honey kept quiet, but diligently kept watching the doctor as he mixed chemicals in beakers. A green liquid poured into a red one making the concoction turn purple. It released a sulphurous smell that quickly wafted around the laboratory. Robotnik left it in a tube tray, and wandered directly opposite to Honey.

"I've done my research you know," he said, "found your driver's licence in that little red handbag of yours. It gave me your name, Honey," he continued, as the cats face dropped slightly further, "and from that it didn't take long for my computers to find out everything about you, from your failing geography in your exams, to your allergy to peanuts." The doctor said, sporting as sinister a smirk as he possibly could.

"You know that in my research over the years I've been able to isolate the individual chemical that peanut allergists react to?" he lied, savouring the look of terror creeping across Honey's face as she connected the dots herself. He could see her brain working out what he was hinting, and her eyes gave away that with every word of his sentence she was holding less and less hope into coming out of this alive.

"Could you imagine that Honey?" he continued, "a concentrated form of peanuts, just one drop enough to trigger a severe reaction," he said gleefully, rubbing his hands together, relishing the torment he was inflicting just through wordplay alone, "Never did find someone to test such a chemical on.

Honey was now extremely nervous. Robotnik could see it on her face. He picked up a random beaker and approached her slowly, gently swilling it. As he got closer, the cat tried to edge away from the human. Mischievously Robotnik thought to 'accidentally' stumble and throw the beaker forwards. It landed at her feet, breaking instantly. The cat panicked. She shrieked as her legs darted away from the chemical. It splashed all over her ankles.

"Fortunately for you, I don't have any of that chemical here." The scientist smirked, genuinely enjoying the amusement that came from watching the reporters mad panic for life from what was essentially a vial of red food colouring and milk.

In truth, what Robotnik wanted to test on this cat was a small device that would eventually remove her from existence. It was a creation truly befitting a man of his genius, but one with many drawbacks, not in the least that the target would have to remain still for a long time, and that the erasure took several hours. It was not a viable weapon Robotnik could use either to directly take over the world, or stop his arch nemesis, but, if it worked, it could serve as part of a much bigger plan.

The device however was still a prototype. In theory, the physics, though highly untested, should work. But this was why he had Honey here and now, he needed to test it was possible. Clutching the device in his palm, he loudly announced to her that this was the device he intended to test on her, though he declined to mention what exactly the device did.

"All you need to do," the doctor chuckled, "is sit still, and be patient. This device, if successful, should remove all your troubles. Of course," he also reminded his unwilling test subject, "in the unlikely event that my intellect is wrong about the physics behind this device... well let's just hope they can find enough pieces of your remains to hold a funeral."

The doctor put the device down on the table, out of Honey's direct view. Though he was sure she wouldn't be able to figure out what it did just by looking, he still didn't want to ruin the surprise for her. Quickly he assembled a tri-pod a few feet in front of her, and then carefully picked up the device and balanced it on top. He then flicked a few switches and dials on the device, muttering somewhat as he did.

"Let's see here," he mumbled, with his back turned to the cat, "if I reverse the polarity on the device here, re-energise the neutron flow there, flick the third wibbly switch, then that should deal with the special rend," he continued, making up gibberish science terms on the spot. To him it was nonsense, but he was sure his captor would pay full attention and try to remember it all, even if she couldn't comprehend much of it.

The device began to hum as Robotnik pressed the last of the buttons. It began to charge up, a faint glow coming from the nozzle end that pointed at Honey. Robotnik began to retreat to behind a selection of safety glass he had set-up to observe. Clutching a small remote control, he smiled confidently straight at Honey and watched as her eyes slowly widened. She had absolutely no idea what was going on, and no way of avoiding her fate.

The beam was ready in just a few minutes. Eagerly Robotnik pulled the goggles over his eyes, and watched as the cat was hit by the devices bright orange beam. She initially flinched as it hit her, expecting the worst, then slowly opened her eyes as she realised it wasn't directly hurting her. Still, she felt very tense, and wasn't exactly sure what was going on.

Robotnik was sat take notes on the immediate observations. He had cameras rigged around the room to fully monitor the situation, but he still enjoyed to get his initial observations in. His brain was now in full scientist mode, and the theatrics that just moments ago had filled the laboratory had completely given way to a much more serious and methodical side. Throughout the entire experiment, Robotnik said nothing, and all that could be heard, beyond Honey's confusion, was the sound of his fingers pounding the keys on a computer keyboard as he took detailed analysis notes.

After several minutes the beam shut down. Honey was feeling particularly ill, but physically had nothing wrong with her. Robotnik looked confidently at the cat and smirked. "The end result," he laughed, "will take several days."

"Lord Robotnik," came a call on a remote transceiver the human was carrying.

"What?" he said answering, "I'm busy."

"Of course, your Excellency," the robotic voice replied, "but it's an emergency. Target one has been sighted in sector Delta Six."

"What?!" he shrieked, before turning to Honey, "Don't even think about trying to escape," he scowled as he ran out of the room.

Robotnik darted out as fast as his legs would take him. But as he got around the corner, he slowed back to a casual stroll. Delta Six, as Robotnik knew, was a fake call, one Robotnik used when he wanted to make a quick exit and leave captives hanging. This was often how he spread mis-information.

Robotnik full well expected Honey to escape. In a few hours, when he had all the data he wanted, Robotnik would allow her to escape, albeit in a way that made it look like she got lucky. She would then, hopefully spread the word, and reveal the location of this lab. This was, of course, one of his fake labs, set-up on another continent. It would prove to be a red herring to anyone searching for him.

He was also counting on her journalistic mind insisting upon taking the device, which would allow him to be able to track her further. The actual experiment Robotnik was interested in had already happened, and the real device was safely stowed away in his Egg-pod as he flew away.


	18. Analysis

Robotnik left from his base at five in the morning. He had immense jet-lag, caused by flying in a private jet that he had designed with a top speed that enabled it to outrace his nemesis, but flying at such a speed with the sun would always get to him. On a conscious level he knew that it was about five in the morning, but he had left several hours earlier at five in the morning.

Wearily he sighed, his body struggling to stay awake. Robotnik had been working to an insane schedule to keep up with the projected timeline, and even with all the stalling he had managed to cause on the creation of the Hydratic Carnival Zone; he was still working himself ragged.

Finally, at the end of his flight, arriving at Northside Island at five in the morning, his body had given up. In spite of his best efforts to focus, he collapsed in his chair, and stayed there sleeping. The plane touched down gently, and awaited orders from Robotnik, orders that didn't come.

Robotnik eventually woke at five. In the evening this time, though he still wasn't fully aware of the right time. For twelve hours his plane had sat in a secret hanger he had managed to have fitted into his factory hidden in a cliff side, all the robots inside just waiting for a command.

As the human stretched he began to realise what had happened. He cursed himself thoroughly for it, resenting that he had wasted so much time. Yes, it was in his schedule to sleep, but that was strictly regimented sleep. Lazing around like that, for twelve hours, no matter how tired one was, was a sign of weakness and idleness, and not something the scientist felt he had time for.

But still, though he would never say it, Robotnik was glad for the sleep. Despite the weirdness of his dreams, often involving a red smoke, he would admit that he needed the sleep, and just lately he was beginning to acknowledge that he hadn't had enough. It was one of those things that always reminded Robotnik of one simple truth, he was getting older. Growing old was something Robotnik was always acutely aware of, he knew that he was older than a lot of the animals who fought him, and dreaded the idea of being a senile old man and still trying to take over the world. Though he had never set a target on it, the doctor wanted to rule the world sooner rather than later.

For today though, he just wanted to make up for lost time. It was already starting to get dark again when the overweight man finally made his way back to his own living area, his stomach loudly complaining all the way that it had not been fed. Dutifully to himself, Robotnik let his gut lead his decision making for the time being, and had his personal chef robot whip him up food.

Chowing down hungrily, Robotnik gulped down plateful after plateful. He had never considered watching his weight, didn't understand the point of personal fitness, not in a world where everything physical could be done by machines. The human, transfixed on his meal, gulped it down so quickly his thick moustache quickly became covered in crumbs and sauce. He would later wipe them off, but for now, as he ate alone in the manner he was used to, he didn't care.

Robotnik finally gave up on his forth serving, pushing the plate forward as he did. Within moments a small cleaning robot appeared, taking the plate away with it, and offering Robotnik napkins to clean himself up with. Robotnik took them as second nature, but for once looked upon the machine cleaning. He had never considered it before, but this robots only job was to clean a small area, one that was only occupied every now and then.

"Robot," the man said, not even aware of the official designation he had given it months earlier "Is this your only purpose?"

The robot stopped what it was doing, saluted and looked directly at its superior, "Yes sir," it answered.

"What do you do when you're not needed?"

"I wait, sir." The robot answered.

Robotnik thought about this for a moment, considering what the robot had said, before replying. "Robot, when you're done here," the human said proudly, "take yourself to the robotics lab to be decommissioned. Your position is redundant, and your parts will be better used."

"For the glory of the empire, sir" the cleaning robot calmly stated as it saluted.

"Cook," Robotnik called out, "You will receive his cleaning program. Consider this a promotion, if you will."

The chef saluted, and followed the cleaning robot out of Robotnik's personal quarters, both duty bound to the destruction of the cleaner. Robotnik didn't give either a second thought as they left. His mind was already busy, thinking of more ideas. When Robotnik's muse struck, it struck hard, giving him dozens of ideas all at once, and Robotnik often had a mad scramble trying to keep all his thoughts organised. This often left a lot of his ideas with little breathing room, and caused a lot of them to go wrong in execution as he had been too preoccupied to notice an otherwise glaring flaw in a plan or device.

Already Robotnik was retreating back to his literal drawing board, another idea possessing his mind. It was a new type of engine, designed for travelling on water, something he was sure would come in useful in his current plans, and he knew he needed to get it down. Despite how annoyed he was with losing time earlier, he knew somehow that this was important, and began doing research, and drawing up blueprints for this device.

Robotnik was not artistically talented in the traditional sense. He couldn't paint flowers or portraits to save his life, and had no working knowledge of colour theory, a flaw that was responsible for things that even he would admit to being some of his more garish designs. But what he lacked in artistic ability he more than made up for in technical drawings. His skill lied with pencils and rulers, making detailed and accurate diagrams and schematic designs, not art gallery pieces.

Drawing blueprints always took Robotnik back to when he was at university, and when he first learnt all about technical drawing. Drawing was one of the few things that didn't come naturally to Robotnik. Robotnik excelled at maths, science, computing; all the logical subjects. His high intellect meant he could do in his mind what most people couldn't do with a computer. But his intelligence didn't make up for his lack of dexterity, and even now he had to focus on what he had been told by his old university professors when drawing.

Repeatedly mechanical pencil was ruled across blue paper, at varying angles and lengths. Stroke after stroke was applied, with only the occasional pause for some mathematics or erasing of artistic mistakes. Robotnik would brush the eraser dust off, and carry on, carefully focused on the drawing. It took several hours, but the human knew he needed to get this precise. A five second error here was five hours fixing in production, as he always told himself.

This was how it often was with Robotnik. All the grand schemes ultimately came from the small ideas, and despite how theatrical he could be on the outside, when engaging in the fight, in his own quarters, away from it all, he was really just a quiet man who was too busy inventing to do anything but invent. If he ever managed to succeed in taking over the world, this wouldn't change, Robotnik was sure of that much at least, he'd just have many more resources to use.


	19. Transport

Robotnik wandered along the factories walkways, watching the robots put some of the finishing touches to his newest flying battleship fortress. Dubbed the Egg Battalion, it weighed several hundred tons, and had over sixty different strategically placed thrusters to get it airborne. But to the scientist, it was nothing special. If anything, this one was sloppily designed, and built not for its grandeur like the Winged Fortress before it, or to be intimidating like the Egg Fleet had been. This one was practical only.

Still, it would be considered by many other scientists an impressive feat, especially as construction had been finished within time, and surprisingly under budget. But to Robotnik, it was only a defensive measure. The real weapon was to be concealed within. The Egg Battalion was to act as a drop ship, dropping a chemical concoction that Robotnik had developed, and intended to use as blackmail. His plan was to start attacking other islands water treatment plants, and contaminate reservoirs and then eventually whole oceans until the governments gave in to him.

Of course, the human had taken precautions for himself. The Hydratic Carnival Zone already had a water treatment facility; originally a green measure to help persuade some eco-warriors off his case, it now served as a way for him to create a continuous supply of drinking water for himself. He had already taken steps in secret for the place to contain an antidote to the chemical, rendering it as small pebbles in the water that could be filtered out.

Robotnik stood watching. Robots began loading the chemical into the weapons ports. This part was critical to the plan, and even though Robotnik trusted his machines to be able to build an entire air ship, something inside him said he personally needed to oversee this part, just to avoid it all going wrong on him at a critical point.

"Careful with that," he yelled out as one of the robots nearly caused an entire vat of the chemical to get knocked over.

The robot, an orange Egg-Pawn, stepped away from the controls for a second, obliged to salute his superior for his commands, before carrying on, this time much more cautiously, slowing the rest of the machines down accordingly. Robotnik merely sighed as he realised what had happened, but stayed watching.

As the last of the chemical went in, he stood firm at the top of the walkway waiting for a confirmation from a computer terminal next to him. This was the last task for the production of the air ship, and as the last few gallons of liquid went in, the human knew the robots would need new commands.

The machine next to him quietly beeped once, confirming the tasks completion. "Your attention please," Robotnik said boldly, as he watched hundreds of robots turn to face him, "With the Egg Battalion now complete, we are now ready to begin the next phase of my plan: The takeover of Northside Island!"

Robotnik grinned sinisterly. Walking slowly down the walkway, he made eye contact with many of the robots. "Now we have currently got about 500 robots here on island. The population of this island is approximately 60,000, based largely in three densely populated cities. For now we need to focus our efforts on capturing the unobvious targets and bolstering our numbers," he said, his mind now deep in full battle mode, "I will bring in further robots from our other bases, but do not go after any targets that would reveal anything. Start with those people who won't be missed first. You'll have the word when you can finally reveal yourselves. Until then, get ready for tonight, the first night of your new mission."

The Egg Pawn's began to head for the armoury. A few robots stayed behind, those who had already been given promotion to flight crew. Robotnik also called for a single squadron of Egg-Pawns to stay behind, these would become the construction workers for the newer robots.

This part of the plan was always the same, no matter what the mission was. Robotnik would use Egg-Pawns, or other all purpose robots to capture civilians, and convert them into his forces, or imprison them out of the way.

Only occasionally would it differ, once on Miracle Planet, where he found that the places unique plant life could support being an organic battery for a robot, or if he could find more Chaos Drives, little batteries that contained bits of Artificial Chaos – a creation of his grandfather's that Robotnik himself had never been able to perfectly replicate.

But ultimately, Robotnik often went back to using civilians as batteries because it solved the problem of where to store the prisoners, and also because it ensured that no-one would use full force, unless they wanted to hurt whoever was inside his soldiers. It was a psychological resort, if not necessarily the easiest or cheapest way to build an army.

Nonetheless, Robotnik would have more robots come tomorrow, he thought as he headed out of the hanger. And as each bay passed, his forces would get larger and larger. His projections assumed that he would be able to do a hostile takeover within a month now, and that would allow him the freedom to work less covertly, assuming he didn't get bothered by a certain spiky blue pest.

Walking back to his quarters, Robotnik was pleased with his progress. His forces would soon begin, he had now readied the chemicals he needed, Northside Island was already have converted to what he needed it for, and even the Hydratic Carnival Zone, while incomplete currently, was working as much as he needed it too. Sure, he had to maintain face for just a little longer, and that included a meeting with the head of the union tomorrow, but right now he didn't care. Things were just going so well.

Even the news that Honey had just been freed was amicable to him. While he had enjoyed tormenting the cat, he knew she'd get free. But what did surprise him wasn't that she had got free, but that she'd been rescued. That news sent him scarpering to the nearest computer.

He arrived panting, having run as fast as his spindly little legs would allow. He wheezed for a moment before frantically tapping against the keyboard. Click, click, click, ran his fingers as the keys took a hammering, and the CPU tried it's best to comply with the impatience of the operator.

"Security feeds," he muttered to himself as he searched for the file, "Lab six," he continued "Sector one – nothing, sector two – nothing, aha!" he paused, "Sector five. There you are, now who's that with you?" he asked rhetorically as he watched her turn the corner, dragged by an obscured arm just off camera. His attention turned to the other cameras, and spotted them once again. Three of them, the cat and her rescuers: a large blonde bear, wearing a woollen hat and scarf, and a green bird, wearing a red bandana. The human eyed them carefully; he was expecting someone else, someone bluer, and tried to place why he felt he'd seen the green one before.

Suddenly Robotnik's eyes widened. He gripped the computer tightly, trying to use it to stay upright. His body convulsed horribly, spasming repeatedly as chills ran down him. His mind flared up with noise, and as he tried to focus on the screen, his eyes blurred over, forcing themselves shut on instinct before he collapsed to the ground, the same word repeating through his head over and over. Freedom.


	20. Emergency

For nearly four minutes Robotnik was unconscious, attended by emergency medical droids he had created, droids that had been alerted by a small heart rate monitor he wore at all times, just in case of this exact scenario. Yet the medical robots were incredibly surprised when the human woke up alert, and as healthy as he had been before he had collapsed. Nothing in their medical databases could explain how the human was fine.

Robotnik though had some idea; though one he needed more confirmation for. After several minutes of persuading, he finally managed to convince his own medical droids that he was fine, and began scouring his sources for information. Something had happened, Robotnik could feel it in his gut, perhaps not the most scientific of ways, but Robotnik knew that the world he lived in was not one of pure science. Ergo, his conclusion was that something supernatural had occurred.

Sure enough, Robotnik got his answer, but not from any expected source. The answer revealed itself through a series of alarms blaring on his computer. The human remembered he was watching Honey's escape when he collapsed, which explained one of the alarms, but not the other two.

The first was another security alarm, from one of his storage facilities, the one on South Island. The security barriers had all been broken. Robotnik had to check the feed. South Island was one of his most secure sites, containing some of his least stable robots, machines that had shown potential, but that he had difficulty controlling. It was a small facility, containing only two dozen isolated machines, all deactivated, and according to his scans five of them had walked out on their own, breaking free.

The other alarm caught Robotnik's attention again. It was one of his robots, using an emergency alarm.

"Sir," it said calmly, "The ruins, they've been destroyed."

"What?" Robotnik asked puzzled, "What do you mean 'destroyed'?"

"They've been completely destroyed. There was a bright flash, then an explosion which took out the entire ruins and half the mountain."

Robotnik immediately tapped into a local news feed. Sure enough, it was all anyone was talking about, the mysterious explosion at the old temple ruins, and the red gas that spewed out that had since dissipated into the sky.

The human felt butterflies in his stomach. There was something going on here, something the human didn't understand, or was it simply that he didn't want to? Robotnik shook his head. Drawing his head down his face he began thinking logically, about everything that had happened that afternoon.

"The girl!" he said aloud, before going back to his security feed. It was again his gut instinct to check the cameras now, but since this seemed to happen when he was watching before; perhaps she had something to do with it. He studied the feed closely; two animals came in, a bear and a bird, fighting through his guards. The pair entered the lab, and then things went to static as the green bird destroyed the cameras.

The next available footage Robotnik had showed the three animals together escorting themselves out of the building, when the green bird collapses. Robotnik paused the footage. The time code stuck out to him. His attention then turned back to the news feed.

"Here, twenty minutes ago," a stressed out looking beaver reported to a camera, "there was a massive explosion that tore apart an entire mountain. Eyewitnesses say..."

Robotnik didn't need to hear any more. It all fit. To his logic, the explosion occurred at the same time as the bird and himself collapsing. Then Robotnik looked into the escaped robots. Yet again, the same time code. Everything happened all at once. But why?

However, another thought filled the would-be-ruler's mind. The explosion would've destroyed his robots, and also sent people investigating. If Robotnik wanted to claim Northside Island for himself, he now had even less time. Nosey reporters and investigators would sooner or later find his machinery in the ruins, and that would attract the attention of a very unwanted hedgehog.

Robotnik decided to double his efforts. Since the news would be distracted for the next twenty four hours, he could potentially snag a few more people tonight, making the overall effort quicker. However, he also made a mental note to himself, for the next islands takeover, he would start by taking over the media itself. As the human reasoned, it's much easier to hide everything from site, if you control what's being shown.

Still, right now Robotnik had more on his mind. He wanted to move forwards in his conquest, and for that he needed to make more equipment, more machines, and sort everything else out ready. But right now, his curiosity was still piqued by what he'd just got through, and he couldn't help but wonder about the connections.

* * *

><p>Night fell on the land hard. The day had been spent with various doom mongers predicting that this was the end for Northside Island. The prophesised chaos, the myth that only a few hours ago wasn't thought of as serious by anyone, was now out in full force as the inhabitants of all three of the islands main cities were worried. The mountain was not a known volcano, and there was nothing of any sort near to it that should've caused an explosion, much less one that large.<p>

But still, in spite of this worry, most the residents slept soundly. However, many more were to be taken through the night. As always it started with a few homeless residents, and the populations of some of the more isolated villages. Robotnik had spent the last few months having traffic patterns monitored and determined which areas were the most isolationist, and therefore, which areas to clear first. Sector by sector his machines worked, knocking civilians out with sleeping gas to drag them away quietly. At the early stage, especially the first, where the ratio of robots to residents was highest, it was important to remain stealthy, and not attract attention.

The robots spent four hours of the night gathering people, successfully gathering about seven hundred people in all. They were placed in a containing area, still unconscious, when they entered into the roboticisation chambers, large rooms which took a living being, implanted electrical implants to remove their free will, then encased them in armour, gave them more electronics to allow an artificial intelligence to control the robotic shell with the animal inside, before arming them with weapons.

Today's haul would all become Egg Pawns, the easiest robots to make, and the ones who were at their best going out capturing even more prisoners. In theory, Robotnik would have the entire island enslaved within a week, assuming everything went well.

But Robotnik was sure he didn't have a week. Today alone had stirred the media into a frenzy, and if too many people went too quickly, that would make the national and international reporters lurking around highly suspicious. Today was the easy lot, the ones who wouldn't be missed. Tomorrow was the first test, taking just over fifteen hundred people without anyone noticing.


	21. Representative

Robotnik spent the entire day on edge. This was the most nerve wracking part of any plan. The first round was always the worst, as he was always at the most outnumbered, and it only took one person to connect the increase in disappearances, and make the connection, and he couldn't send out another wave in broad daylight, not yet.

Still, the doctor could take some solace; he had pretty much taken over half of the island without anyone noticing. His theme park, the Hydratic Carnival, while still incomplete according to the schematics he'd been pretending to follow, was ready to act as a defensive barrier, with a hidden factory and laboratory underneath. Furthermore, underneath a large empty plain on the island hid a hanger containing the Egg Battalion, a large airship which had many uses.

Furthermore, the island itself had given him a large, labyrinthine hidden temple that none of the natives knew about. It also had a deep jungle where, with some simple misdirection and a few sparse robots and traps scattered around, the human could pretend had strategic potential, and three cities, cities he knew any would be invaders to the island would at least scout out, and offered him great storage areas for various projects.

But all day long, that niggling little thought stayed in his mind. "What if?" Robotnik had made the decision to get extra targets in the night, would that decision come back to bite him?

Even while working, Robotnik kept one eye on news broadcasts. At this stage, he had to. He had a small group of robots continuously scouring news sources, both on television and the internet, just looking for any sign he'd been seen. Fortunately, so far all they'd found was a news report that came from a black cat named Honey who'd told the tale of how Robotnik had experimented on her, but the news was investigating on another island. It seemed like the news today was still distracted, half torn between yesterday's explosions, and the revelations of a new Robotnik story many miles away.

However, there was still one thing Robotnik, or rather Roger the Walrus had to do. The head of the workers union had, no thanks to Roger's useless P.A, managed to call him into a meeting to try and resolve the strike. On his way there, all Robotnik could think was "If only this had been next week, then it wouldn't matter."

Travelling in his disguised Egg-pod, the camouflaged doctor made a conscious effort to keep his eyes and ears open for anybody noticing any of the fifteen hundred missing bodies. He even deliberately went out of his way to some of the more secluded areas, and aside from an eerie feeling while driving through a completely deserted hamlet, he didn't manage to notice anything that indicated anyone had realised. Yet.

Arriving ten minutes late, Robotnik met up with the union leader, an average sized badger, as well as one of the construction firm's union reps, a large built dog that Robotnik recognised as one of the crane operators.

"Roger," the union leader said calmly, shaking Robotnik's fake flipper vigorously "I'm Clive, the head of the Federal Union of Construction and Demolition, you must already know Steve, the FUCD union rep from your staff."

"Pleasure to see you," Robotnik lied, mentally adding; 'Now I know who to look out for on the assembly lines.'

"Now then," Clive said, "Let's get this discussion underway. I'm sure we all want you to carry on with the construction of the wonderful looking Hydratic Carnival as soon as we can."

Robotnik looked at Clive carefully. Based on what he'd said and how the badger had sat, one thing struck the human about the union leader: Robotnik didn't like him. There was something irritating about the creature, but the human couldn't place his finger on it.

"Agreed," Robotnik replied, "And I'm only too happy to try and settle this strike amicably."

"And that's good," Clive replied, before turning to the dog sat next to him, "And you Steve, would you like to make your opening statement?"

The dog nodded and slouched forwards in his chair. "Look, Roger," he said, trying to hide his contempt, "All the guys want is to work together. Some of the guys workin' in this 'ere park have been working construction for over twenty years, it's their bread and butter. You can't just randomly pick and choose who stays and who goes because of 'budgeting', it doesn't work that way."

"No, and I understand that," Robotnik countered, not really wanting to look uncaring, "But it's not that simple..."

"How is it not?" the dog asked, "You signed a contract. A hundred workers, working shifts, to build this park. You know many other jobs these guys had to cancel to build this park and then you decide you just want to randomly cut them down."

"It's all in the budget," Robotnik answered, before taking a small sigh, just enough for the dog to pick up on it, "Look, Steve," he said more calmly, "We've hit a few snags financially, not in the least due to the cost to replace the construction vehicles that got broke when we tried to dig up that box."

"But that's nowhere near the cost of a quarter of the workforce." The dog growled. His fists were already clenched.

"Guys," the badger said, "let's both calm down. Yelling at each other won't move this along, okay? So let's cool down a second. Now, Roger, what are these budget cuts actually?"

Robotnik leaned forwards, and let his face slip into a bit more of a disappointed look. It kept him a bit more sympathetic, which was important in any sort of discussion where you know you've done the wrong thing for the right reasons. "It's to do with the cost of the steel," he relented, "As I'm sure you heard, a very large surplus of steel was stolen from a refinery at the north of Northside Island, a crime I'm sure we all have alibi's for," the human said, trying to avoid the fact that he stole it himself to build his airship.

Robotnik heard the stupidity of that sentence the second he said it. Fortunately, aside from a slightly bewildered look from the dog, neither of his pair seemed to think of it as especially odd. "Nevertheless, this theft pushed the price of steel up considerably, and as I don't need to remind you, we need the steel to make the park." He said confidently, keeping hidden the fact that not only was he responsible for the theft of the steel, but thanks to a recent buyout, the company he'd stolen it from was also part of Robotnik's personal payroll.

"Surely you could compromise with another material?" asked the badger, trying to be helpful.

"Nah," Steve replied, "we've already built a lot with the steel, we can't swap halfway through, we'd have to start over completely. The steel already used wouldn't be strong enough ta support anything we built atop it if we swapped to a heavier material, and if we used a lighter material, we'd need to add a lot more supports for it. Steel really is the only way ta go."

"Exactly," nodded Robotnik, "But all of those options are going to cost more money. Changing the plans, adding more support, that's all going to cost more."

"Well surely, you must have some sort of contingency?" the badger asked.

Upon hearing that question Robotnik finally twigged why the badger annoyed him. He was redundant. The badger added absolutely nothing to the conversation, serving instead only to be a witness to stop Robotnik from directly provoking the dog.

"The contingency plan established, in the event of such a situation," the human stalled slightly, "would be to scale back the size of the park."

"Then why don't you do that?" asked Clive. The badger didn't see the issue, but Robotnik could tell looking at Steve's face that the dog already understood why that wasn't a practical solution.

"Because, if I scale down the size, then there is less work to go around, putting me in the same situation as before; I'd need to remove staff."

"Which is why we're on strike!" the dog finished. "Because a company as large as his must be able to produce more money."

Robotnik was starting to get fed up. To him these negotiations were not only a waste of time, but also, due to his own hidden machinations, completely redundant. Robotnik sat unflinching at the dog's last response. He simply had stopped caring.

"But there must be something you can suggest," the badger said, trying to help the situation along as best as he could. Looking across from his seat, Robotnik could tell that even the union rep wasn't a big fan of the head of the union. "After all, you must be losing more money by not having your theme park open, right?"

The human slouched back in his chair. This costume was getting to be really bothersome to the human, but he had to wait it out. As he looked at the other two creatures he was sharing this empty discussion with, he began to see the same look on their faces as well. It was going nowhere fast, especially as only one half the discussion was arguing to keep work going.


	22. Intermediary

Tensions were beginning to rise in the negotiation room. Steve, the union representative was annoyed with his boss for not seeming to want the strike to end. Robotnik, disguised as Roger the Walrus, was fed up of having to keep up the pretence of wanting the strike resolved when deep down all he wanted now was to get on with his takeover, and both of them were getting annoyed by just how irritating and ineffective their intermediary Clive the union leader was being.

"Well now, guys, I'm sure we all want this discussion to end well," Clive chipped in, trying to remain as optimistic as he could.

"But of course," Robotnik said slightly smugly. He was now focused on trying to wind the dog up. "But Steve really needs to understand that I simply cannot afford to pay all the staff, and I can't break labour laws regarding minimum wage, either. It really does seem like the only option I've got is to either let some of the guys go" he said, this time isolating himself as outside the issue, "or cut corners on materials and open an inferior park."

"Listen pal," the dog replied, refusing to back down. "Unless you want this place to be a death trap, you need all of us to finish."

'Maybe I want the whole thing to be one giant death trap,' Robotnik thought to himself, before replying "Or maybe I could let you all go and find some cheaper labour?"

The dog's eyes lit up in anger. "You can't possibly do that! Do you have any idea how construction even works? No chump's gonna take on that job if you fire all the earlier staff. Nobody's got the guts ta take on a scabs job."

"Oh really?" Robotnik asked, doing as best as he could to make his costume look just a little bit smugger, before pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket. "Because I got a quote just the other day from a South Island Construction Company." With that Robotnik unfolded the paper, a letter-headed document with a quote for the cost of finishing the job. Robotnik slouched back in his chair arrogantly.

Steve lost it at this revelation. Getting up out of his chair, the dog lunged forwards and smacked the walrus as hard as he could, landing a hard right fist into the walruses face.

Clive the badger realised too late to stop the first punch, but made the connection immediately as to what was going on and was able to pull the dog away, in spite of the badger's much smaller size and stature. "Steve, that's enough!" he said, trying to calm the dog.

As the vicious dog was pulled away, Robotnik instinctively held on to his jaw. Sure, the scientist had been the victim of both more powerful punches, and was routinely the subject of much quicker attacks, but this one had caught him off guard.

"I think that's enough for today," the badger said, trying to keep the room calm. The dog eyed Robotnik up, but both of them could see the chance for a fight had passed. "Steve, would you please leave the room for me, that's a good dog."

The union rep glared at the badger for such a ridiculous choice of words. Slamming his chair over, he stormed out of the room, obviously frustrated, not only that he'd been stopped from the fight, but also that he'd worsened the chances of ending the strike. Robotnik considered his luck that the costume hadn't been completely ruined; perhaps he'd taken it too far arranging the fake quote from one of his own dummy corporations.

Normally Robotnik would've smiled smugly to see someone else's mistakes cost them dearly, but right now he had other issues. Still holding his jaw he feigned being in a lot more pain than he really was. Truth is, the costume had absorbed a lot of the force, but now the human realised that the dog had managed to snag the costume.

"Roger," the badger said, trying to sound more compassionate, "Are you alright? I'm a first aider, do you need anything?"

Robotnik's gut instinct was to say no, but saying no would mean the bothersome badger would stick around longer until such time that said badger thought the injury was fine. "I just need some ice," the human said softly, "As my old dad used to say, a bit of ice would soothe any injury." He finished, trying to make himself a bit more walrus like to the creature now intently focused on his health.

"Sure, sure," the badger said calmly, "I'll be two sec's okay. Don't go anywhere."

As the guy left the room, Robotnik was finally alone. He took this opportunity to first re-adjust his costume, straightening out the jaw line as best he could. The damage was small, but if anyone saw it, it would be immediately obvious that Roger was an impostor.

Robotnik also considered walking away. After all, he was close to completion on his mission. If he disappeared now, he could stay out the limelight for just a few more days, and then it wouldn't matter.

As things were though, Robotnik chose to wait. Sitting for longer meant that it was much less likely that word of this would get out. After all, if the press discovered this, there was a possibility they'd start re-reporting the strike, and so close to his target he couldn't allow this to happen.

The badger returned with an icepack for Roger's jaw. Without hesitation, Robotnik took it, and quickly replaced the hand he'd been using to cover the tear with the ice pack. Despite protests, he was able to convince the union head that he didn't need to visit the hospital. Robotnik didn't want to imagine what would happen if medical doctors looked at him. They'd probably be very quick in declaring, then removing the costume, leaving him exposed, and probably a GUN captive.

Fortunately, the badger was quite willing to leave the human alone once the ice pack had been handed over. After several minutes of feigned pain relief, the doctor made his excuses and left the company of the badger to head back to his base.

It was late afternoon when Robotnik finally got out of the city. As he made it into the countryside, he made contact with his forces in the roboticisation chambers, telling them to keep the dog that had just punched him to one side, so that Robotnik could personally deal with him. Robotnik was not a petty man, but he held his grudges, and anyone who had personally wronged him was always subject to special treatment, whether they knew it was Doctor Robotnik they had wronged or not.

As Robotnik arrived back, the last of the captives were being transformed. It was an ongoing process that had would take longer for each batch, due to the increase in size. Robotnik had already figured out his next targets. In addition to the usual batch of homeless, loners, and those nondescript individuals, he also decided it would be wise to start taking any and all members of the press. This was to further hide evidence of his involvement, both in the disappearances, and also in his mountain temple activities.

Today's target number was three thousand individuals, double what he had managed the night before. This would bolster his forces to nearly five thousand machines, an ample amount if he needed to speed robot production along for whatever reason. It also gave him more than enough to arm and defend all the key areas of his fleet and fort. Anything additional after today would serve as an extra deterrent.

The only problem was that all the obvious candidates for the disappearance were gone. Now they had to come from the cities, which, at this crucial stage meant stealth was a must. Each and every machine would be equipped with sedatives, and would operate strictly under order to not be seen.

This was the crucial part of the plan. If enough people saw the robots, word would be out, and the entire island would go into high defence, with extra guards, and constant monitoring by GUN, not to mention bringing the attention of Robotnik's adversary. Tonight was critical, and Robotnik would spend the entire night monitoring the whole thing from his base, constantly altering his plans.

Hence, upon arrival at his base, barely after sunset at five in the evening, he went to bed, forcing himself into as deep a sleep he could manage to be rejuvenated for it


	23. Morning

At two in the morning, Robotnik's alarm clock went off. Robotnik had already been awake for five minutes before, excited. While the human understood that what he was about to do would be some of the hardest work of his plan, and that the next four hours were critical to his success, there was a lot of eagerness in the obese man's body, an eagerness to pass the turning point of his plotting.

Cup of coffee in hand, the doctor made his way to his monitoring station, and began to watch everything. To keep up to date with everything not only was he monitoring 24 news channels and internet news sites, but he also had a computer able to track any one of his machines on this mission at any time. Furthermore, he had managed to get access to the police network thanks to his belligerent hacking tools, as well as having a CB radio tuned in to the police channels.

Robotnik also had a few other tricks at his disposal, the key one being an old factory on the outskirts of the largest city on the island. It was an old paint factory, one that his robots had discovered on the initial inspection of the island. Throughout the months, Robotnik had kept noticing it, dilapidated, unused, and largely useless. It would get one more use today, if the human needed it.

As his robots set off, Robotnik watched on the monitor. A cluster of red dots slowly dispersed out in all directions from the central hub that was his base. They split up, some into small groups, designed to take full houses, and into singles, designed for just one person. If each robot could grab, sedate, and carry one more person back to Robotnik's factory, the human's army would double in numbers. Tonight two thousand robots flew out, a small number for an island with a population of just over seventy one thousand, the majority of which being urban creatures.

The procedure was simple enough in theory. Prior to leaving, each robot would be assigned a list of five targets, prioritised in order of how ideal a capture they were, as well as data regarding who they were, where they lived according to government databases, and who would likely be nearby. In addition to this, there would be a specialist batch of robots who would seek out those who are lurking around outside in the small hours of the morning, try to figure out who they were, then make a decision as to whether they should be taken or not.

Once a person was selected, and they had been accepted as a viable target for the night, the robot would first disable any outside communication via a small scrambling field to block phone signals, then enter the house by picking the locks of the least conspicuous entrance, sedate anyone who was found inside by emitting a sleeping sedative gas, and take whoever was listed as a target, logging anyone who was present on site but not taken, so additional robots could come if necessary. Over the years, Robotnik had gotten this down to an art form, with an efficiency rating of ninety eight percent

If a target proved hostile, they would be taken by force, the key objective being to do this as silently as possible. No target would be left, once engaged, even if it meant more robots coming for them. Each area had a spare squadron in waiting, who's only job would be re-enforcements, to ensure word didn't get out.

Once captured, each person would be taken by the robots to a nearby transport hidden outside the cities. Each transport would keep hold of prisoners until such time it was full, or when the operation was over. Tonight the operation would only last for four hours, with Robotnik ready to call it off either if the target had been thoroughly beaten, or if things started to go bad.

For the first fifteen minutes, everything went smoothly. Bar one or two people not being where they were expected to be, and a couple of targets proving to not be viable, nothing went wrong. Capture was smooth, and the machines had been matching target pace.

The problems started coming with the first call for back-up from the robots. The target was a single mother, who, unbeknownst to Robotnik's survey's had been dating a policeman, who had that very night stayed over, bringing with him a full uniform and radio, as well as his pistol. The cop had managed to down a robot, meaning a back-up squad needed to capture him. But in that time, the officer had managed tried to radio for back-up.

Robotnik caught the attempt early, and managed to successfully block the transmission to the forces, leaving only the first few seconds of the officer saying "This is officer..." to make it to the station, not enough for them to track, but enough for them to investigate when they realised a police officer had disappeared.

As the night ticked on, there were a few more close calls. One man managed to get out his back door, but was taken in a surprise swoop by the support squad before any of his neighbours saw. Another managed to ring through to emergency services claiming he saw a robot "fifteen feets tall". Fortunately for Robotnik, the man was also very intoxicated, and therefore the operator didn't believe him, disconnecting him. No sooner than she had, Robotnik's robot swiped the man.

At about half two, after his heart was racing, Robotnik decided it was time to play his trump card. Pressing a single red button on his console, he sent a signal to a receiver in the factory. It did two things simultaneously, firstly, the signal caused all the robots within two hundred feet to leave, and secondly, it sparked a small fire, which thanks to a series of highly combustible chemicals Robotnik had been secretly storing in there caused it to catch ablaze.

The fire raged ferociously, with chemicals exploding throughout. Almost immediately, the fire services were called into action, but the sheer size and scope of the blaze also distracted the other emergency services, as well as some news reporters, who all focused their attention on the big bright light in the sky too much to notice the much smaller robots flitting around, often carrying people out from their slumber.

This was the perfect distraction, not only in terms of getting rid of the police attention, but also by sending most the people who were awake at that hour elsewhere, leaving Robotnik free to take whomever he wished.

The night drew to a close with Robotnik getting just six shy of target. Not a perfect result, but hardly a major cause for concern, On the scale he was working, six people less that night wouldn't cause any serious issues. But still, it annoyed Robotnik. The target was there for a reason, and by missing it he had failed himself.

It was now six in the morning. Sun would rise in another hour, but for Robotnik, there was to be a couple more hours sleep. The robots would get on with making the captives into machines without him, and if he planned to do the same the next night, he would need to become just a bit more nocturnal.

The doctor rested in his bed comfortably. In spite of tonight's minor failure, he was smiling, knowing that the next night would be easier. His next goal, he thought to himself, was another five thousand, enough to have one seventh of the population, which would then be enough to take on the island just a bit more directly than he had been.

Unfortunately, his rest was interrupted. Robotnik sat upright, as at the base of his bed a pair of unnerving eyes greeted him. They belonged to a small red creature, with long dreadlocks hanging down its head.

"Doctor Robotnik, we need to talk."


	24. Priorities

The creature was a three foot tall red robot, one that Robotnik had made, and since placed into storage, a few years earlier. It was a prototype he had built to impersonate the emerald guardian Knuckles the Echidna after his initial research led him to conclude that the Floating Island's secrets would allow a robot imitator to do what it allowed Knuckles to do. Unfortunately, further research had revealed this was a lie, and it was actually much simpler, rendering the robot largely redundant.

Still, it stood here now in front of Robotnik, and considering the scientists track record for having some of his machines turn on him, he took no chances. Ever since Metal had overthrown him he'd created a device that could disable any robot that stepped out of line, and kept it on him at all times. Aiming it at the red robot, he pressed the trigger on the device.

The robot froze in place. It was still on, Robotnik could hear it's faint hum, and could see the lights at the front still. It was only when it began shaking that the human grew alarmed.

It sparked slightly, as an ethereal red glow surrounded the outline of the robot. While the machine itself was shut down, it moved forwards, now near silently, willed not by mechanical parts, but by something far less natural.

For all his science, for all his understanding of how the world worked, Robotnik also had his fair share of dealing with the unexplained, and unfortunately Robotnik didn't have anywhere near enough defence against the supernatural elements of his world, even having to rely on his arch nemesis to save his own hide on more than one occasion.

"Doctor Robotnik," the machine repeated, "We need to talk."

"W-what are you?" a startled Robotnik asked, realising full well that right now he was helpless. The button he had pressed has set off a silent alarm to his guard troops, but the fact that they had not yet arrived was in and of itself a bad sign.

"You have nothing to fear from me," the robot said, "After all; this machine is one of your own creations is it not?"

"Then what do you want?"

"I am one of the Monsters of Chaos," it said, bowing slightly as it introduced itself, "And I'm here to offer you a deal that will benefit all of us greatly."

"You mean those things from the temple?"

"That 'temple' you call it, held our prison, and thanks to you, we can finally leave. Unfortunately, our freedom requires a physical form, hence my use of your robot. It's ironic, after all these millennia, and a desire to leave the old life behind, I still find myself in this form."

"So let me see if I've got this right," Robotnik replied, somewhat surprised not only to be approached in such a way, but also that there was apparently a supernatural being who talked rather than just roared. "You're free now to communicate with the outside world, but not free to exist within it?"

"Correct."

"And I assume you want help to obtain said freedom."

"Correct again."

Robotnik thought about his position. In all his years, he had never had a supernatural force ask him for help. But at the same time, it all seemed too convenient. Robotnik had accidentally enabled some unnatural creatures to get enough freedom to operate his robots even when they should be physically disabled, just days before he was ready to fully take over Northside Island. Robotnik had every right to be suspicious.

"So what exactly do I have to do?" the human asked the creature.

"All we need," it said, "is a device that will move the Chaos Emeralds out of phase with this dimension. We know you're enough of a genius to do it."

"Impossible," Robotnik replied, "the very nature of the device would require a Chaos Emerald just to power it, and even if I could get hold of one, the very nature of the Chaos Emeralds stops them from being sent away. I tried to create such a device once before to stop one of my enemies, it literally blew up in my face."

"If I were you," the creature replied, "I'd redo your tests. We were imprisoned via the rings, but now that we are free, all their bonds are broken, including the link they had on the Chaos Emeralds that used to keep them in our world. By freeing us, you have rid the world of the rings' influence."

"So that's all you want," he said, "a device that can teleport away Chaos Emeralds?"

"Yes."

"And in return?"

"You can have the world, in any way you want it."

Robotnik thought for a moment. It surely sounded like a very tempting offer, but one that sounded too farfetched. "And I should trust you because?"

"You shouldn't." the creature replied. In spite of the lack of a mouth, Robotnik was almost sure the creature was smirking at him. "But you will, with time, and when you do; then you'll help."

"Bah," Robotnik scowled, "If you're really so aware, you know I don't need your help."

"Heh," the creature chuckled, its body's stillness unnerving the doctor, "your next failure might lead you to conclude otherwise, and that's assuming you don't realise from this failure."

"My ... next failure?!" Robotnik yelled angrily. "Why you've got some nerve!"

"You're already spelling out your own failings Robotnik," the creature calmly replied, "and the closer you get to completion, the more obvious it is."

"Get out!" Robotnik yelled, "I am not going to help you."

"Fine I'll go." The robot relented. "You will change your mind; we will make sure of this. But know that you could've had everything, if only you'd agreed right now." With that the robot left the room, its physical body dissipating into a cloud of red smoke, and filtering out of the room through the air vents.

Robotnik laid back down on his bed, the soft cushioning proving to be little comfort. "How dare such an arrogant, egotistical, and pompous creature assume that I, the greatest genius this planet has ever known, would make a mistake?" He said aloud to himself

Still, Robotnik had to wonder. His research had shown that these ancient deities could often do some amazingly powerful things, yet his experience had often shown him that these creatures were also difficult to trust.

But there were other questions too. After all, they approached him, and the human could not help but wonder why. Robotnik considered the possibilities as he slowly fell asleep.

* * *

><p>Robotnik awoke after his brief nap with the sound of his alarm. The events of last night, both the assault on Northside Island, and his unwanted visitor were playing on his mind in different ways. His immediate concern was to check his news feeds. Right now, he was indirectly responsible for more than four thousand disappearances on the island, and in spite of his research, there was always a possibility that someone would notice.<p>

The news however either didn't notice, or didn't think its audience would be interested. Instead, the news was more focused on the latest celebrity scandal, as well as a small piece on the local news about corruption in the mayor's office, though fortunately this was only reported by a news source on the opposite political spectrum, and wasn't being treated as anything serious.

Robotnik breathed a sigh of relief, before thinking about what he had to do next. Briefly he humoured the idea of building a dimensional teleporter, before dismissing it, and his warning as nothing short of madness. In his sleep the doctor had made his decision to decline the offer he had been made. For one thing, he had invested far too much time, effort and resources into this plan, and had no intention of writing it all off this late in the game.

But the human had one other thing he had to do that day. As such, Robotnik got dressed properly today, putting on his expected outfit; the red jacket, the one with the excessive yellow buckles, and the black trousers with the large white buttons. They were a stark contrast to many of his much more practical outfits, such as his scientific lab coat, or his engineering overalls, but at the same time, they conveyed an image. Being a leader required you to be recognised, and as stupid as the outfit might look, it was instantly recognisable.

Brushing out his moustache fully, the ends spiking out to a point, Robotnik placed the outfit on carefully, sure not to wrinkle up the suit. Today, much like when he was in his lab with Honey, he would embrace his reputation. Doing up the boots, he was ready to embrace his alter ego. As he slipped the goggles on his head, he was ready to go out there, and hold the world hostage as Doctor Eggman.


	25. Unethical

Robotnik had bought a few machines with him to a small remote island, several hundred miles away from Northside Island. The island in question was small, non-descript, and deserted. It also had one more key feature, a large lake that did not run into the ocean. This lake would serve as a perfect demonstration to the governments of the world that the chemical compound he had created worked exactly as he claimed.

The robots began setting up equipment. It was a small selection of sensors, recording machines, a simple chemical deployer, and a couple of computers. All of it was the absolute bare minimum, but it was enough to allow him to submit some results. Threatening the planet wasn't a simple exercise, any claims needed to be verified.

Very few governments would just concede without some sort of proof, and while blowing up the moon might serve as obvious evidence that anyone could look at, poisoning water could be seen as a hoax. But Robotnik already had this covered, and would be transmitting not only video evidence, but also scientific data, that he knew governments would then give to scientists to verify.

This was always a risky process, as there was always the possibility that another scientist could use this knowledge to work on an antitoxin. However, the simple answer to counteract this would be a short deadline. After all, it took Robotnik several weeks to devise the chemical and antitoxin. Why would a lesser scientist get it quicker?

As the robots finalised all the equipment, Robotnik readied himself in shot of the camera. He had one take to get this right, as he had nothing with him to undo the chemical reaction. He waited, as his robots took to camera and sound recoding duties. He then waited for a cue from the robots operating the machinery to show they were ready. When he got the nod, he began talking, reading from a script he had written on his way to the island.

"Citizens of the world," he said boldly, his arms tucked behind his back as he addressed everyone, "I am Doctor Eggman, genius extraordinaire, and I come to you with a simple offer. Behind me," he said, motioning towards the lake "is a small natural lake, on a deserted island about four miles south from the coast of Emerald Hill.

"It's a beautiful lake isn't it? Crystal clear waters, and full of fish, it's what many would consider a paradise. But today it serves as an example." Robotnik said; cueing up the robots.

Behind him an Egg Pawn opened a valve on the equipment, releasing Robotnik's chemical into the water. The lake reacted violently, fizzing and bubbling more as the noxious compound reacted with the water. It the water sank several shades darker, become more opaque, and began to release a terrible sulphurous smell.

Robotnik began speaking again. "Now I can assure you that I have more than enough of this to turn the entire planets water supply into this undrinkable, acidic gunk. You now have two choices; learn how to drink this liquid," he said gleefully, "or surrender yourself to my rule. You have just twelve hours to make your decisions, or this chemical will be released regardless."

With that the robot stopped recording. The footage was then stored on a hard disk, ready for use when Robotnik was actually ready to make his move. However, he also needed to make a second video, this one much more scientific. It was to be sent only to government officials and discussed at length not only the results of various monitoring equipment his machines had used, but also how to verify just how serious Robotnik was, and how to contact him to discuss terms of their surrender.

There would be a lot of discussion and back and forth before. Robotnik had done this several times now, with many governments often sitting and having long talks about what they would do, and how to formally relinquish power. Unfortunately for Robotnik, these promises didn't count if his threats were destroyed, meaning that the hedgehog had often unwittingly cost him areas that had all but surrendered in every form bar officially.

Upon completion of the second video Robotnik and his robots left the island, taking every single scrap of equipment they had with them. All of it was loaded onto the back of his jet plane, so that nothing would be left behind to trace it back to Robotnik in the unlikely event that someone found this lake before he released his video. The simple truth was that if anyone did arrive here, and see it, they probably would suspect Robotnik, but they would have neither a way to prove it, nor a way to find where he is to deal with it.

* * *

><p>Robotnik arrived back to his base on Northside Island less than two hours after he left. It was now mid-morning, and Robotnik had just one more task left to do today before another early night. Robotnik would now spend every night commanding his forces in their pursuit and capture of citizens he would use in his machines. But during the daytime things were a little different. The first thing he would do today is finalise his Egg Battalion ready for its first flight.<p>

As he walked into his hanger, he marvelled briefly at the sheer size of the ship his machines had made for him. It was over a half mile long, at least ten stories high, and was fitted with enough weaponry to destroy nearly anything. It was, by his own admission, one of his more heavily armed fortresses.

It's defining feature however was that it was fitted to act as a chemical release unit. For the last seventy two hours, his robots had been filling it up with as much of Robotnik's water contaminant as they could, filling various vats with the stuff, taking almost all of Robotnik's supply. The idea was that Robotnik could keep the toxin airborne, making it harder for anyone to get hold of any for themselves. Of course, Robotnik had already set up enough liquid in reserve so that he himself would be fine should the chemical break free, so he wouldn't have to suffer while everyone else did.

Wandering onboard the ship Robotnik looked over all the various machines. Some were working in the engines, fuelling the machine, others were loading weapons, or taking care of critical, and not so critical systems that would keep the ship in flight. Robotnik had a trick with his weapons, and fuel albeit a very energy intensive one. While in flight, Robotnik would use teleporters to directly teleport in extra fuel and ammunition from his bases, prolonging his flight.

Robotnik made his way to the bridge of the ship. It was a pristine room, with monitors showing absolutely everything Robotnik could possibly need, from navigational information and targeters, to leather lined chairs and a coffee maker. From here, Robotnik could easily command his robots, and efficiently move the Egg Battalion as needed. It was perfect.

With the last of his captives now turned into machines, Robotnik was ready for the third night of his mission. His video threats were ready to be transmitted, and his flying fortress was also ready to go. In addition, he had already managed to fortify much of his underground workshop and laboratory, and had further defences hidden all around Northside Island. He just needed to capture the island now, and all that stood in his way were the three main cities.


	26. Riot

It had been an odd day on Northside Island, with many people having made some sort of observation that something was going on. The town's seemed emptier, the traffic was less dense, and a lot of workplaces had less staff in them. But no-one had made the connection, with local media sources not even reporting on the story.

Not that Robotnik had any time to keep an eye on the media anymore. He had to get absolutely everything ready. Tonight was the night he would make his strike, failure now would ensure he would not be able to fortify Northside Island completely, and would almost certainly guarantee the intervention of GUN, and worse, his spiny blue adversary.

His attack would start with a bombing raid on the highways of the nearest town. Cutting that off from the others would allow him to focus all his forces in one place. He had enough robots now to take the entire town, and from there he would move on to the other two.

But before that, there was one other thing he needed; a complete communications blackout, separating Northside Island from the rest of the world. This was actually quite easy to do. Over the years, Robotnik had launched numerous satellites into orbit, and while the hedgehog had smashed a few of them, many of the smaller ones were still operational. These satellites would combine with Robotnik's technology and block out all wireless signals on the island. The human had it all set up, communications would fail at one in the morning, a time when few people would notice, and his attack would begin shortly after.

The only other thing left to do now, was wait.

* * *

><p>At midnight, the doctor assembled his troops in the hanger right in front of the Egg Battalion. He had about six thousand robots currently under him, and all of them, bar the minimum required to operate his roboticisation chambers, would be busy that night.<p>

"At one AM," the human instructed, "communications will go dead across the island. This will be when I strike. The Egg Battalion will launch a bombing raid, isolating Nortropolis City from the rest of the Island. At this time, Alpha and Beta squadron will wait on the outskirts of the city. Your instructions are to stop anyone from entering or exiting. Shoot to kill if you have to." Robotnik added, knowing full well that there was every possibility that someone might try to be a hero.

"Tonight all prisoners are to be placed into a prison egg. Once everyone from Nortropolis has been captured, the prison egg returns here to be transformed, and we will move on to the next city, Palm Bay. When that falls, we move to the final city, Capital Lake City. We do not stop for anything tonight. I will be in radio contact to issue orders only. I only want to be notified if that pesky hedgehog shows his face."

With that, Robotnik saluted, and watched as six thousand egg pawns saluted back. His machines were still outnumbered, but hopefully the fact that the average person had no fighting ability gave him better odds. Robotnik dismissed the robots, watching them arm themselves and head for drop ships, ready to fly into the towns and capture everyone possible.

Robotnik made his way inside the Egg Battalion. He walked onto the bridge and watched every robot salute his appearance. Slowly he wandered around, taking one last look at the robots that would be flying the gigantic battleship, before sitting in the captain's chair.

"Metal, come in," he ordered, barking into a computer screen.

Metal's face filled a view screen, his red eyes focused forwards, "What is it Doctor?" he asked obediently.

"I've a special request of you," the human smirked, "A personal request."

* * *

><p>A quiet beep alerted Robotnik to the fact that his satellite array had cut all communications. It was now precisely one in the morning, and under the cover of darkness Robotnik finally got to launch the Egg Battalion. The jet engines began to whirr quietly into life, indicated by a low rumbling, and a slight vibration throughout the craft. In front of him, the scientist could see the hanger doors begin to open. Robotnik began to see the jungle around him. Bar a select few robots that helped with the launch sequence, the entire hanger was now empty, with every robot just waiting to go.<p>

As the doors finally were opened fully, the Egg Battalion achieved take off, and carefully flew out of the hanger. Once it was clear, it fully got up to speed, as the robots who had worked in the hanger left, joining up with another attack squadron, with their leader activating a self destruct button on the hanger.

To Robotnik, the hanger was no defunct. Either he would take over Northside Island, and would use the island itself as a landing spot, or his ship would be destroyed in the process. Hence the hanger was now nothing more than an alternate entrance to his base, one he no longer needed. The human wasn't worried. In the morning his machines would clear out the hanger altogether, and repurpose it as they would the rest of the land, but for now he just needed a quick blockade, just in case.

The airship hung lightly in the sky. It flew relatively sluggishly, but not as badly as Robotnik expected. Despite having done all the design work, how a vehicle would handle was often dependent on a number of factors, and sometimes not all of them could be correctly factored in, even with his genius intellect.

Robotnik had his automated co-pilot check in with all the squadrons around. They were all ready, and all that was left was for the battleship to lead the strike. Robotnik carefully headed towards the freeways at the edge of Nortropolis. Tentatively he manoeuvred the ship over the empty roads. Everything seemed to slow down now, as the ship entered into position, ready to give away Robotnik's very presence on the island.

The bombs fell almost silently, a barely audible whistle as they slid down from the airship to the ground. The impact however, was far from quiet, with explosions sending debris flying everywhere, and the noise attracting attention, alerting people to Robotnik's presence.


	27. Invasion

The robots appeared and began taking people before many people had even figured out what was going on. The few that had the unfortunate luck of living near the freeway were the most startled, having been woken by the explosion, and being awake when the robots appeared. Some ran for their lives, others tried to hide, and many tried to desperately contact help to no avail.

Unlike the previous nights, here the robots ignored all sense of stealth and caution. The focus was on rounding people up, with Egg Pawns smashing through doors and windows to get at people, going in, en-masse, and systematically capturing anyone they got in their targeters, regardless of age, ability, gender, or species.

Many made efforts to resist, but the robots simply had superior firepower, and even the police were unable to offer much help. Street by street, quadrant by quadrant the robots moved, starting with an initial attack wave, then a general capture wave, followed by a search wave that explored every nook and cranny to capture anyone who tried to hide. The process was swift and efficient, based on numerous practice runs; Robotnik's army had got the invasion down to a tee.

But Robotnik had other things he needed to do. His main priority was to cut off any forms of access, including a private airfield just to the west of Nortropolis. It was a simple job, but by completely levelling it he could be sure that nothing could land, not even a simple bi-plane.

The human watched with glee on his screens as full prison eggs were taken from the streets of Nortropolis to his underground base. His roboticisers began pumping out more machines, and no sooner than they were operational, than he sent them to assist. Robotnik didn't have time to perform anything more than a basic check at this point, he needed more troops.

The robots were now encountering pockets of resistance. In the city centre, a defensive point had been set-up in some of the skyscrapers, with crude weaponry fashioned out of whatever people could find. Bottles full of flammable liquids, fire extinguishers, even computer monitors. If there was a chance it could be a weapon, it was being used.

As more and more of Nortropolis fell, the last few pockets began to surrender. Some willingly, others fighting to the bitterest of ends. All in all, the battle for Nortropolis didn't take as long as Robotnik expected.

But still, it was the easiest of the three. Not only was it the smallest city, further away from the other two, but now Palm Bay and Capital Lake City were already aware what was going on, and where trying to offer their own forms of resistance. Capital Lake in particular was defended by a military base, and even with communications cut, word had reached the other cities, and would probably make it off the other island. Robotnik had kept one eye on anything leaving, but word would still inevitably get out, making the rest a matter of time.

The Egg Pawn's re-grouped. A few had been lost in resistance, the victim of an explosion in a petrol station, but there numbers had been increased by the first robots out of the roboticisation chambers.

Robotnik was already moving towards Palm Bay. It was the second largest city, less than twenty miles from the capital, and situated on the coast. The plan here was slightly different. While in Nortropolis they had pushed everyone into the centre to take them, here they would be pushing them to the ocean, and Robotnik would be utilising the Egg Battalion to keep them from swimming away.

The entire city was on alert now, with several people having already made the effort to try and flee. Robotnik didn't care too much for those people, he had already made sure escape and communication off the island was impossible, so they would be caught in time. What did matter was that he could grab as many as possible, to put him in a stronger position for the third city.

Robotnik's airship focused its first attack on the coastline, destroying many of the boats resting in the harbour. The airship also took this opportunity to make the first, of what would be many deposits of its chemical compound. Dropping the liquid into the ocean, the effect wasn't as immediate as it was in the lake Robotnik had filmed, but it still had quite an effect, turning the ocean foul, and putting many people off even trying to swim as they watched several dead fish float to the surface.

From above the human watched the fight. His machines had every advantage he could give them, and he even offered air support, firing a warning shot every time he detected someone trying to set-up a pocket of resistance. He smiled with glee, every time he fired. This machine was so powerful, he'd barely even begun to use it, and already it was better than anything anyone would throw at it. Robotnik hoped that not everyone would surrender immediately, just so he could fully test it out.

The robots began to move the people forwards, sending them running out of their homes, and towards the coast, where more robots were waiting. The populace fled into the waiting arms of Egg Pawns, who were all too eager to capture them. Palm Bay was actually coming along much easier, and with new troops constantly coming in, Robotnik was confident he could have the entire island by sunrise.

"Doctor Robotnik," came Metal's voice over the radio, "mission completed. They're in hold one now.

"Good," Robotnik replied, "I'll be there shortly."

With that, Robotnik left the bridge, confident his robots could finish of off the job he'd left them with. Making his way to his private quarters, he smiled gleefully. As he walked in, Robotnik took off his goggles, and began to get changed. There was one more thing left to do, a deeply personal and petty thing, one Robotnik had sought for a while. Grinning, Robotnik put on a fake wig, and a fur-suit.

Robotnik left the room once again dressed as Roger the Walrus. This would be the very last time he would have to wear this awful costume, and he couldn't be happier about it.


	28. Talking

Waddling towards the hold, Robotnik was handed a blindfold by his second in command. He stood outside quietly, and looked at the people in the room, before putting the blindfold over his face and sitting down. Twelve people were in this room, all currently out cold. As Robotnik took his place amongst them, Metal closed the door again.

A mixture of a chlorine and lavender smell wafted through the room, causing everyone within it to wake up.

"Where are we, what's going on?"

"Who are you?"

"Who's out there?" The voices incessantly asked questions all of them oblivious to the true nature of what was happening.

"Oh my," Robotnik called out in the voice he used for Roger, "I think we've all been captured."

There was a general hubbub around the room. All twelve people began speaking, one by one piecing together that they had been captured by Robotnik's machines, most of them being caught completely off guard, and fearing for their lives.

"I overheard the robots," Robotnik lied as he told his story, "They're taking over Northside Island. I heard they're putting a massive factory at the south of the Island, by the old temple."

"You don't think that's why it exploded do you?" asked one of the beavers.

"I don't think it's that simple." Rouge said. It was sat directly opposite that of Robotnik. "I've been a direct witness to Eggman's schemes before, and if anything, I'd say the temple was a distraction. He's probably sat watching us right now, laughing at how we're suspecting the wrong things. Well I'm on to you Eggman!" Rouge shouted.

"I agree," Honey said. Robotnik could tell as she said it that she was pretending not to know Rouge. Robotnik could only guess that each of them was using the other, Honey using Rouge as a source of information on confidential GUN issues, and Rouge using Honey to stop news of her exploits getting out.

The door slid open, and eight robots walked in. Each robot grabbed one of the people in the room, "You've been assessed as being perfect for a batch of super powered Badnik's our glorious leader is making."

As the door slid shut, four people remained. Robotnik, disguised as Roger, and three others. The three people Robotnik wanted to be left with; Rouge the Bat, a construction work named Steve and Honey the Cat.

"I don't know what Eggman thinks he's playin' at, but he won't succeed." Steve said.

"Why that's where you're wrong," Robotnik said in his normal voice, as the other three stood alarmed. The door re-opened and three more armed Egg Pawns walked in. The robots slid off the remaining captives blindfolds, just in time for them to see Roger the Walrus pull his face off and reveal the sneering grin of Doctor Robotnik underneath.

"Eggman!" Honey shrieked. "Why of all the..."

"Shut it you!" Robotnik scowled. You three have been quite the pests in my conquests of Northside Island. But here we are, and I've succeeded."

"So why are we here? Why aren't we being made into robots?" Rouge asked.

"Because with each of you, it's personal." Robotnik answered. "You tried to blackmail me. Honey became too nosey of my plans, and Steve here went so far as to attack me."

The two girls looked at Steve, both slightly impressed, though Steve himself was extremely worried that he'd gone from punching his employer, to punching a ruthless wannabe tyrant. It was something that had not escaped Robotnik's attention, and he loved watching the three of them suffer.

"So what are you going to do with us?" Honey said.

"Oh it's simple enough," the human answered. "Steve here's going to be tortured." As soon as Robotnik said that, the guard bots took Steve away, screaming as he was taken.

"He'll be a fun distraction until that pesky hedgehog inevitably runs onto the scene. As for you Honey, well do you remember when I had you in my lab? Remember that device? Did it seem to do anything to you?"

Honey didn't answer, but in the back of her mind, she was worried. She began to sit even more uncomfortably, fidgeting in her restraints.

"The answer is no," Robotnik laughed, "or at least, not yet. It was phase one. This," he said, pulling a small remote like device out of his pocket, "is the final phase. Now watch closely Rouge."

Robotnik fired the device at Honey. Almost immediately she began to flicker, her whole body contorting and blinking into and out of existence. Honey looked exasperated, yet it didn't seem to hurt her, much to Robotnik's disappointment. Honey screamed in a panic as this happened, but her voice faded into silence as she dissolved completely out.

"She's gone now," Robotnik smirked. "Pity it takes so long to do; it would be the perfect weapon otherwise."

"And what about me then?" Rouge said, as Robotnik turned to face her.

Robotnik turned to face the bat. She sat there almost comfortably, as if she was enjoying being restrained. This was probably just another day at the office for her. He'd seen this before; she could be surprisingly calm even in situations where most people would be straight up panicked. It came with her lifestyle.

"Rouge," Robotnik said, "You and I go back quite a bit, and you've often played a role in many of my plans, whether it's simply being a distraction, or more directly working with me. Of course, I know about your bosses, but I also know just how easy you are -"

"Hey, watch your mouth!" Rouge interrupted, insulted.

"On the other hand, I already erased one of your friends from existence. In twelve hours, she'll be all but forgotten, as that machine goes about erasing her from history."

"So is that what you're going to do to me?"

"Oh heaven's no." Robotnik answered, feigning offense. "No, actually I need something from you."

Rouge looked intrigued, "What is it?"

"Simply put," Robotnik said, "I need a spy in the GUN offices. Someone who can keep me informed on what they're up to."

"Heh," smirked Rouge, "And here I was thinking you were about to 'take over the world'?"

Robotnik swung around angrily and leant in close to her face, "Quiet you miserable little bat or I'll have my machines tear your wings from your spine," the human replied, determined to show he meant business. I don't know if you realised, but right now my machines are currently overthrowing Northside Island and while I do hope the rest of the rest of the world surrenders to me, I have to be realistic. Having someone who can act on the inside of the planets largest opposing army is always an advantage."

"So you want me to act as double agent?" Rouge asked, "Alright it's not like I've never done that before," the bat winked, "but what's in it for me? Why shouldn't I just agree, then run away and never do a thing for you?"

"There are many reasons," the human replied, "But the one that'll make you want to do it is this," Robotnik said presenting the same small black remote control he had used on Honey.

With the click of a button, a small hatch opened up inside the hold. A small gun shaped object poked out of the end, and began charging up with a faint green glow.

"This device, when fully primed and ready, will leave you my obedient slave. Over the years I've perfected the art of making an electronic mind control device; it's why none of my badniks have ever disobeyed me."

"What about Omega?"

"What about him? He's been following my orders for years, even if that hasn't been immediately obvious. Just because he appears to be autonomous, doesn't mean he is."

With that, the machine began to charge up fully. Robotnik took this moment to leave the hold, the sounds of her banging her ankles against the chains replaced by total silence as her obedience. As he walked back in, he simple gave her a simple obedience test, then sent her off with her orders, and made his way back to the bridge.


	29. Insistence

"Coffee," Robotnik said, as he walked into the bridge. Without hesitation a robot immediately poured him a mug full from a pot less than two feet from where the scientist was standing. It was now about half three in the morning, and though Robotnik had been pre-occupied tying up a few personal loose ends, his robots had now secured Palm Bay, leaving the only place unguarded as Capital Lake City, the largest city with a population of over twenty five thousand. In contrast, Robotnik's robots were now numbering about eleven thousand, with his factories producing constantly, and shipping out new pawns as soon as they were complete.

Capital Lake City was on full alert, and though Eggman had been successful in pinning them down inside the city, they were bolstered in, and had spent the last few hours preparing defences. If Palm Bay had a head start, then Capital Lake started a lap ahead.

But Robotnik wasn't worried. While Capital Lake City had the largest population, the population was much like the other cities, full of young children, elderly, and others who were not combat experienced. The actual combat ready populace was much lower, and in these sorts of battles, the sheer number of civilians running around panicked caused problems for any defensive force.

Considering his army was still pumping out machines, Robotnik gained a larger advantage the longer the battle went on, assuming he didn't lose more machines than he could make. However, he still wanted the island before morning, so he could fortify as much of the island as possible before either GUN sent a strike force, or another, much bluer adversary turned up, offering an alleged freedom to the robots that were perfectly happy to serve Robotnik.

Robotnik now had one other advantage on his side. His number two soldier was now free to assist. Egg Pawn's were mass produced, cheap units, who had strength's primarily in their quantity and capability with a range of tools and weapons. Metal however was a very different machine, with a much more sophisticated AI, extremely tough armour, speed that matched, and even surpassed the fastest things on the planet, and a crippling array of attacks and abilities that could cause significant damage.

Furthermore, Robotnik had no use for three cities, even if he wanted them. His robots could be stored in a warehouse when not needed. He only realistically needed one city for power generation, resource storage, and as a base for a lot of his equipment. The second city would serve a useful place to stash munitions, keeping them a safe distance from everything else, just in case. The last city was therefore redundant, and could, in the human's opinion, be destroyed if needed.

The Egg Battalion hung in the air over Capital Lake like a nightmarish beast of old. It sat, fire licking from its exhausts, waiting, an ominous sign to all life bellow that their chances were slim. What the people of Capital Lake City hoped for was a superfast blue hedgehog to save them.

What they got was a superfast blue robot. Metal wasted no time in getting started, directly leading the charge right off the bat by jumping straight into the fray and taking down three police officers with one charge. With that, hundreds of orange and red Egg Pawns followed suit, flooding into the city, and grabbing anyone they could grab, making absolutely no distinction between people.

Metal would rush people quickly, moving between people in the blink of an eye, his AI working out the next target before he'd even passed the last one on to an Egg Pawn to be taken away. A small squadron followed him with a prison egg, ordered by Metal directly to do nothing but follow, his movements increasing the efficiency of that particular squadrons capture rate by over three hundred percent. Within minutes, the blue robot had managed to grab over fifty people.

But many more still remained. Some cowered hiding in fear, others ran aimlessly, some even took what they thought to be the most sensible option, and directly surrendering. All the while Eggman stood watching, his airship providing small aerial bombardment, breaking up any potential resistance.

As time ticked away, Robotnik watched as block after block fell. Each section lit up on his map, a sea of red dots slowly turning green as they worked to the centre. The City Centre itself was heavily defended, with the army shooting any and all robots, taking them out with heavy artillery. They had set up emergency defences hiding inside skyscrapers. It was something that had not escaped Robotnik's detection, even if he couldn't pinpoint their location.

"If they won't come out," the general said to his bridge crew, "We'll have to force them out. Arm the laser canons, target city hall."

The Egg Battalion's lasers glowed into life. Six neon green lights, flickering at the base of the Egg Battalion, all focusing inwards to a seventh point. It too slowly glowed brighter.

"This one's for you Mayor Wally," Robotnik cried out over the external PA system, "Courtesy of the Eggman Empire." With that the laser fired, tearing straight through the roof and walls of the building, utterly obliterating them, like they were made of paper. As the dust settled, Robotnik spoke again, "I'm willing to accept your surrender any time."

Robotnik didn't get a reply back. He didn't expect one, not now. The city was in no position to formerly arrange one. The map was now two thirds Robotnik's, and most the areas left didn't contain any officially recognised government offices.

More and more Egg Pawns flew into the city. Some returning having already dropped off a load of captives, others completely new, created from those caught in Nortropolis and Palm Bay. Meanwhile the number of people still left to be captured shrank. The people were already getting beaten down. In all the years, having heard the stories of all the monstrosities Eggman had committed, never did they expect to be on the receiving end of it.

The computer next to Robotnik beeped. A grin spread across Robotnik's face as he glanced at it, the number of available Egg Pawn's was now greater than the total number of people. Even though there had been no formal surrender, and there were still over ten thousand people still running around not yet captured, as far as Robotnik was concerned, victory was assured.

Still, despite it being very early in the morning, Robotnik could not retire to sleep, not yet. He would not allow himself the much needed pleasure until his troops outnumbered the resistance by at least two to one.

Robotnik repositioned the Egg Battalion. It moved towards the army base, the last major stronghold. As he did he started getting notifications of incoming missiles. This was the true test of the Egg Battalions defences. The best anti-air missiles Northside Island had to offer collided hard against the ship, the force of which rocked the floating base. But the damage was minimal, a few minor dents and some scratched paint at the point of impact.

Robotnik took this time to return fire, choosing conventional machine guns to drive the soldiers out. Firing a small volley of missiles alongside, to destroy the army's missile launchers, he watched via camera feed as the soldiers fled their defences, right into the waiting arms of his Egg Pawns. Sure a few of them, with their military skill managed to take down a few Egg Pawns, but they were outnumbered, and were as good as his as soon as Robotnik saw Metal join in.

A scant few resisted further, but by six AM it was over. Sure, there were probably a few still hiding, there were always a couple, but he had managed to effectively take the entire city, and any who fled would be rounded up later.

With victory his, Robotnik made his way to bed. His machines would begin fortifying right away, but for now, the human needed to sleep.


	30. Empire

Robotnik woke up at around midday. It was the first time in a long while he had allowed himself the pleasure of a lie in. Waiting for him when he woke up was an official surrender note, issued by Mayor Wally, or rather, by the machine that was now powered by the former Mayor of Northside Island.

Not that the island was called that. Not anymore. Robotnik had already started calling it New Eggmanland. Robotnik was naturally ecstatic that the island was his, but there were still a few things he needed to do to truly make the place his home.

In the last few hours, his roboticisers had not stopped. It had now churned out just over thirty seven thousand machines, and sat in prison eggs in his factory were many more would-be robots. About a hundred robots were still out and about, searching for any remaining hidden civilians; they would keep searching for the rest of the day.

Furthermore, Robotnik's machines had been busy terraforming and fortifying the island. Whole zones were being rebuilt and adjusted, with cities having their buildings repurposed, roads being twisted and warped to make them trickier to navigate on foot, and infrastructure such as holo-road supports and essential power lines being fitted across the island, along with traps scattered about to protect against any unwanted pests.

Robotnik's machines had already turned Nortropolis into the start of a sprawling chemical factory, and already the first new quantity of the chemical was being produced. Things were going smoothly for Robotnik now, at last, for the first time in a long while, he could move around in the open, undisguised, and not have to worry about being seen.

Robotnik left his machines to get on with things. Right now, the entire island was a construction site. It made doing anything huge impractical, and even he realised the importance of what his machines did. Hence Robotnik allowed them right of way and went to working on much smaller things.

First Robotnik had to check on Rouge. The human had been monitoring her, and was using her phone to send new commands. As it was, he still had control, but had no use for her right now, bar having her report on anything that came up. It was all he planned to use her for, an early alert to say if and when GUN where coming. But, if things went badly, she was a new ace in the sleeve.

Robotnik still had to send an actual threat. He didn't actually know if anyone had figured out what happened yet outside of Northside Island. All communications to and from the island were blocked, with the exception of a single, narrow band frequency that Robotnik was using. In addition, the human scientist had robots patrolling the island and monitoring the skies constantly checking to make sure nothing left or arrived onto the island without him knowing.

Robotnik decided to hold off on letting the world know. He needed a day or two to fully set the base up. Robotnik retreated back to his laboratory, underneath the now derelict and intensively fortified ruins of the Hydratic Carnival Zone. The former water park construction site was now a bristling death trap, full of lethal traps and dangers, either intentionally, such as spikes positioned at the end of a rollercoaster run, or a by-product of the incomplete construction, like the unenforced portions that would surely collapse when anyone tried to stand on them.

As he sat in his lab he began thinking. Only now, that he was more relaxed and rested, did he give thought to what he'd been told by the robot that had invaded his quarters. It didn't occur to him to think of it at the time, but what would it want with a device that removed the Chaos Emeralds? Robotnik began to ponder, thinking about all his research over the years.

In the back of his mind, it bugged him on a fundamental level. Assuming this message was true; then in spite of his success at taking Northside Island, it would be for nought. But how could anyone know whether or not he would succeed? Robotnik had been double checking everything in his plan, he was confident in his work, satisfied that none of his things were faulty, and that he had counted every variable.

There was only one way to be sure. The robot that had given him the message had instructed him to build a device that would do what was previously impossible. Robotnik opened up his old research documents, scouring them for his information on his attempts to move the Chaos Emeralds out of phase. It was an early experiment, a way to ensure he could stop anyone else from getting to the emeralds, but it never worked, due to inherent properties within the emerald, properties that made no scientific sense to the human.

Robotnik could build the device again, no problems. He had most of the components in his lab, and the ones he didn't would be lurking somewhere in his base. The thing he did need was a Chaos Emerald. But that was the one thing Robotnik did not have. And even if he did, even in spite of his curiosity, would he really want to waste such a power when he could use it to make so much more from it?

The scientist decided not to test this hypothesis. Even if it was right, what would it prove, bar perhaps that the robot was correct, and that this had all been a waste of time? No, Robotnik wasn't going to let that be the case. He had an island base now, heavily fortified, and a world to hold to ransom. He wasn't going to entertain the stupid notion that he could fail, not anymore.

But still, he had to do something. His roboticisers were now making the specialist robots, the ones that would serve particular goals, such as security, mining or construction, and arming them all as well, just in case. The human however also needed to make some machines, in particular modifications to his beloved Egg Pod. Over the years, Robotnik had fitted hundreds of weapons and attachments to the craft, and he had no desire to stop. Some were practical for transport, such as excavating drills to traverse tunnels, or underwater propellers to search sunken ruins. Others were more just for his own amusement, such as the wrecking ball which he normally used to assist with demolition. Yes, it was an impractical way of doing it, but there was always something entertaining about knocking down a building with such a device that was lost with a controlled explosion.

Other modifications still were much more directly built for combat. Robotnik always enjoyed a heated battle, the adrenaline rush of facing an opponent head on and directly engaging them was always much more thrilling than letting another robot do it. Sure, there were fights where it was less about the fight, and more about survival, but sometimes the human would engage the hedgehog, or whoever else happened to show up, just for the sheer joy of the battle, pitting his wits and machinations against the skill and speed of his opponent.

These modifications were always done last minute. Partially because he had no guarantee that he would need anything he made several months ago, and partially because plans change. This went all the way back to his efforts on Angel Island, where he originally devised a machine that would fire a hook shot through the walls and ceiling of a room. Unfortunately, an unexpected earthquake destroyed the very room just as he was about to start the battle, leaving him with little to no option but to try and fight with redundant equipment.

Robotnik began devising machines. A few simple ones at first, to ease opponents into a false sense of security, then some much harsher ones designed for actual prowess. Whether or not he used them would depend, over time the scientist had developed hundreds of these machines, many of which never even got off the drawing board.

He stopped working as the clock turned three. This was the time he had set to share his revelation with the world. On his end, all he had to do was press a single button to confirm transmission, one he was all too willing to press. As governments all over the world received Dr Eggman's warning, Robotnik merely sat back, waiting for them to make their move.


	31. Sonic

In the transmission, Robotnik never indicated where his base was. The instructions for world leaders had them communicating to a relay station, which sent a signal into space and then back to Robotnik, who had now unscrambled communication off Northside Island. It had been six hours since the transmission was made. His airship had a full load of the chemical ready to go, and he had another load sat in barrels in his newly acquired warehouse district in what used to be Palm Bay.

Robotnik had not yet heard a thing from any of the governments. He could only imagine them all sat around, making urgent conference calls, all desperate to understand the viability of this latest threat, and whether or not they should resist. The human was also acutely aware that a certain hedgehog probably saw that transmission and was on his way here.

But he didn't care. Right now, everything was going his way. He had the island, he had the weapons, he even had had enough time to properly fortify the place, and ready his defences. The last robot rolled off the construction line an hour ago, and the last six hours had seen him assemble several Egg Pod modifications, sat in the newly modified hanger, waiting to go should they be needed.

Robotnik had even checked with Rouge. She had confirmed that GUN were investigating, but had no leads on where his base was. She did however send her last report from the very lake Robotnik had used for his display, indicating at least that GUN had some ideas.

All robots were ready too, each of them on alert, ready to report any attempt made by anyone to gain unauthorised access to the island. But above that, they now had other duties. The island was still being terraformed into Robotnik's ideal fortress, and it would be at least a week of work just to convert existing infrastructure to fully suit the needs of the new equipment. Once this was complete, additional areas would be created, the jungle would be streamlined, organised, and utilised more efficiently.

Contrary to popular belief, Robotnik didn't hate nature. It was just that nature was incredibly disorganised, and an inefficient way of going about it. There were much more organised and efficient ways to arrange nature, so that it could work to its full potential. Yes, Robotnik preferred to spend time in a laboratory, working with scientific and engineering equipment, but that didn't mean he didn't have any idea how essential to life nature was.

Robotnik sat in his lab, still designing, when a red telephone began ringing. "Hello," Robotnik answered. The eager scientist was expecting several calls today, all from some very important people, so his delight was understandable when it rang. He merely had to hope the call was good news being delivered.

"Why hello Mr President," Robotnik continued, "and what can I do for you today?" he said mockingly, "Uh-huh, well that's a pity. No I understand completely, if I were in your shoes, I would have probably come to the same decision myself."

"There's just one thing you have to understand, Mr President," Robotnik said, really driving home the direness of the situation, "I have more than enough of this chemical at my newest base of operations." Robotnik paused as the president responded "Yes, I'm well aware of the size of the ocean. You don't get to be a genius scientist without having at least a rough grasp on things like geography."

Once again the president began talking. Robotnik simply sat, there, relaxed in his chair; almost not paying attention to the empty and meaningless words he was being told. "I don't think you're in any position to stop me," Robotnik responded, "and if you intend on wasting my time then I think I'll cut down yours. You now have just three more hours to decide, and I've already picked your country as the first..."

Suddenly blue alarms flared up in the lab. "I'm sorry Mr President; we can discuss your surrender later!" Robotnik blurted as he dashed for his hanger, his mind now panicked. Grabbing the nearest Egg Pod he could find, he made a move for the exit. He picked a weapon at random, this time a simple pair of large steel pincers, and made for the exit. Robotnik had no plan, no strategy, and no idea what he would do, all he knew was he had to go and fast.

His alerts were blaring a message from the first robot to make a sighting, one that had already long since been destroyed. Sector five, quadrant B, or in simple terms, the beach to the south west of Robotnik's position. Near the fortress, the robots had already begun digging a trench, to make navigation far harder, and to route the threat around the island.

Robotnik made his way to the nearest prison egg. He'd left it their deliberately, knowing almost anyone who made it to the island via that beach would detour for it upon seeing it, either out of curiosity, or out of a misplaced notion of doing good and saving the day. His robots were barely around the beach, it was too early for it to have been fortified, so it still looked relatively wild and untamed, with only a few simple obstacles, and some basic robots who were doing nothing more than just monitoring the place.

Or that was the idea. In reality, most of them had been destroyed, and a lot of the traps had either already been sprung to no avail, or were sat in places that hadn't been disturbed.

Robotnik saw his target, dashing at half speed, straight towards the Prison Egg, almost as if this was a leisurely stroll, and that breaking all of Robotnik's hard built robots like it was merely a game. It angered Robotnik to see his work destroyed so nonchalantly.

The blue hedgehog was running by, mindlessly drifting past the last few robots in the sector, barely bothering to slow down as he ran into them, and laughing as he did. His red shoes, just a blur as they moved at such ridiculous speeds. Just as the hedgehog made it to the Prison Egg, Robotnik made his craft's presence known, grabbing a nearby rock and aimlessly throwing it, in order to get the hedgehog's attention.

"Hey Eggman," the hedgehog said. To Robotnik's ears, the hedgehog's voice was full of contempt, hatred, and a burning desire for the destruction of the scientists work. "What's your game this time then?"

Robotnik glared. The idiot had made his way to Robotnik's own island, without even bothering to pay attention to the message he had sent the world. This was so typical of that pest, Robotnik thought.

But outwardly, Robotnik remained calm. He had to, the battle for Northside Island was over; now the real war began. He looked down at the blue hedgehog and smiled confidently. "Long time no see, Sonic."

**The End**

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><p><em>AN: That's the end of _Another Setback_. Anyone interested in seeing the end of Robotnik's reign on Northside Island should check out the short story "_Pressured Into It_", coming soon. Also be sure to check out some of my other stories, for more information about the mysterious Monsters of Chaos. Finally, look out for my next major story, _Disappear,_ coming soon. _

_I hope you enjoyed this story. Feel free to leave comments regarding what you thought, good or bad, I always look forward to the reviews at the end of a story.  
><em>


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